Seemingly Unknowing
by Anima Sola 86
Summary: Hermione turns crazy: literally. She finds herself caught between love and suicide. Who can help her? What's happening to her? And what's Fred Weasley's part in it? [Read & find out, rated T for some scenes containing blood]
1. The Letter

**_Seemingly Unknowing_

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**DISCLAIMER: I do own… nothing… everything belongs to J.K. Rowling! Everything except the plot and my influence on the characters… hehe… so, yeah… but I do own nothing… -repeats-**

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_Chapter 1: The Letter_

It was a sunny afternoon in the middle of summer holidays when Fred Weasley sat outside the Burrow, reading about some spells he and his twin George would need for their newest jokes – as suddenly a grey owl came flying towards the house. The owl stopped right in front of him, a small letter in its beak.

When Fred picked it up, the owl got up again and flew back to where it had come from. Puzzled, Fred opened the letter. He recognized the fast scribbled-down writing as Hermione's for he had often read Ron's mail when his brother wasn't looking.

Even more puzzled, he read through it. It said:

_Dear… everyone at the Burrow._

_Would please someone pick me up? I can't explain but it's very important. Please don't panic or anything, I'm fine. I just, please pick me up from my parents' house. It's urgent. I don't know to whom I should send this owl other than you…_

_Thank you so much! Hermione_

Fred spotted water stains on the parchment. Had she been crying? What was this all about? She sounded terribly desperate. He folded the letter and put it in the pocket of his trousers before getting up, shoving the book he had been reading aside. He then entered the house, calling for his twin.

"George? I'm off!"

His twin showed up on the stairs.

"Where d'you wanna go?"

"Just flying around", he said with a wink.

He didn't know why he didn't say the truth right away. He just felt like doing so. He watched George give him a short nod before returning upstairs where he probably tested some of their newest inventions. For the twins where alone at home (because his mum and dad went on vacation along with Ron and Ginny, their friend Harry was supposed to visit them one week before the new school term) he grabbed his broom and went outside again.

He looked around and recalled Hermione's desperate words. He then mounted his broom and knocked off of the ground, flying straight to where Hermione lived with her parents, some suburb of London. He knew where she lived for he used to be flying above that area when he, George and Ron picked up Harry with the enchanted car of his dad.

When the first houses came into view, he slowed his broom and got ready to land. The streets were empty in this part of neighbourhood. He decided to walk the rest to her house for this was a Muggle area and seeing people flying on old broomsticks would distract the average Muggle a lot. When he made the last turn towards the Granger's house, he could already see someone sitting in the front yard of a neat little house, in the shadow of a willow tree. The garden was perfectly cut and looked the same like the one to the left and to the right of it and almost like every other garden in this place.

He walked slowly towards the figure sitting in the grass, shouldering his broom. He saw bushy brown hair and a Hermione that was terribly sobbing into her knees.

"Hermione", he called quietly, getting in earshot of the house.

She suddenly raised her head, wiping the last tears from her pale face.

Fred approached her, kneeling down beside her. "You alright?", he asked, watching her sympathetically.

She tried to say something but then tears were forming inside her eyes again.

"It's okay", he whispered, putting one hand on her shoulder. "What about a little walk?"

She nodded and took his hand as he got up and held it out to her. She washed over her face, her eyes red and swollen. He watched her with concern. After they left the Granger's house behind, she turned to look at Fred.

"Thank you for coming", she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"No problem, Hermione", he answered, watching her closely.

"I… I'm so selfish, now am I? Calling for someone to pick me up? Like I couldn't handle my own problems… I'm so selfish…", she muttered more to herself, turning to stare at the far away horizon.

"You're not selfish", he replied. "Whatever happened you had your reasons to call one of us."

He watched her as they approached a deserted playground. He moved her towards one of the swings, sitting down on one of them. She sat beside him, burying her face in her hands.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?", he asked quietly.

She lowered her hands before started talking to her shoes.

"I… I had a very bad argument with my parents. With my mother to be certain. We always fight but this time she… she was so mean and I couldn't handle it anymore. She blamed me for everything and I couldn't but scream at her like a mad one… she was so angry she told to me to leave. She may think that I'm off and gone right now… but I hid in the garden and owled you. I… I didn't know where to go…", she said, pulling on the sleeves of her jumper. Then she turned to face him. "You know, it's so-"

"Don't mention it", he replied, knowing that she wanted to thank him once more. He gave her a smile and grabbed her hand. "But you can be happy that George and I were at the Burrow - for everyone else is on vacation, you know. Some spontaneous trip, I guess."

She nodded to his words before turning to watch his hand on hers. Noticing her stare, he slowly removed his hand and stood up from the swing. She followed his movement and looked at him out of watery eyes. He then kneeled down in front of her, looking her straight into her deep brown eyes.

"So you want to come to the Burrow? You sure?"

She nodded. "I… I can't go back to my parents' house. They won't let me in, I'm sure…"

"Well, then you have to live with George and me", he said, grinning his typical grin. "The others will return in two weeks I think."

"That'll be absolutely fine with me", she said, almost smiling down at him.

He got up and grabbed his broom that he'd put next to the swing before sitting down on it some minutes ago. "So, ready to go home?"

She stared at him. Not just because she had to fly to the Burrow but he called the Burrow home. Maybe her home as well? She slowly got up from the swing.

"Do we really have to fly?", she asked trembling, looking suspiciously at the broom in his hand.

"Don't worry", he replied, smiling. "It'll be safe!"

He mounted it, showing her to get up behind her.

She still stared at it.

"Trust me", he said winking.

She sighed and climbed up behind him, pulling her arms quickly around him to a bone-breaking grip. He moved uneasy in front of her.

"Well", he said after stopping coughing and getting to breathe again. "If that's comfortable for you."

She watched his grin from the side. "Yes, better than falling down, is it?"

He laughed, kicking slowly off of the ground. Hermione immediately tightened her grip around his chest. He imagined her to press her eyes shut when they flew off into the air. In fact she pressed her eyes close and even buried her face in his shirt.

'That'll be a hell of a ride', Fred thought smirking.

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**A/N: So, Hermione got trouble at home… what do you think? Thank you so much for reading… whoever you are -gg-**


	2. Disturbing Truth

** Disclaimer: I don't own anything… I'm too poor… characters and surroundings belong to JKR, the plot and Hermione's actions are mine…**

**A/N: I edited a very important (yet quite banal) fact... thank you **MoonFey** for letting me know... of course, Fred was a beater at Hogwarts NOT a chaser... how could I forget about this! Stupid me... sorry, well, anyways... that's it... enjoy reading and find the former mistake ... hehe... **

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_Chapter 2: Disturbing Truth_

Hermione felt as if her stomach would turn over. She pressed herself closer to Fred as they flew in high-speed over fields, forests and little houses that were so far beneath them; she referred to not look down at all. Her heart was pounding heavily against her chest and she almost feared Fred could feel it too, being so close to her by her bone-breaking grip. She felt his chest go up and down flatly yet he breathed normally. She had never been that close to any other Weasley except for Ron who she had hugged several times in the last years of being one of his best friends.

Yet it was different being so close to one of the Weasley twins who she only remembered having laughed with. She had been highly surprised to see him coming for her after she had owled to the Burrow. She hadn't known the rest of the Weasley family was absent so she had expected Ron for her to come or maybe Mr. or Mrs. Weasley, but she hadn't thought of Fred picking her up.

It felt nevertheless good to see him, finally a smiling face who might care for her. She was glad she now was sitting behind him on his broom heading to the Burrow – even if her stomach made funny flicks all the times they moved out of a straight line for maybe avoiding being hit by a bird – and she was kind of glad he couldn't see her face while flying.

Her eyes were still swollen and deep red from crying and her skin was as pale as if she might have been a member of the Addams family. Now her face showed a slight trace of green for her being sick of flying. She pressed her eyes close forcefully, burying her face in Fred's shirt, which smelled of something like grass and lemons. She immediately threw off the thought about how Fred smelled like and concentrated on not vomiting over his back.

She slowly found herself deep in thoughts of what had just happened to her. She heard her mother yelling and she heard herself screaming back. She heard glass break and wood burst into pieces. She remembered the look on her mother's face when she caught her by doing something stupid. She recalled her words of disappointment, shock and anger. She then reminded herself of the smell of fresh blood and of the pain she had felt when -

"Hermione, we're there!", she heard Fred's voice.

She slowly opened her eyes, realizing they were already back on the ground. Her feet hit grass and gave her a solid stand again. She then noticed her lasting grip around Fred's chest and quickly removed her arms. She hopped off the broom, watching Fred doing the same. He shouldered his broom, smiling at her, before rubbing his chest with a grin.

"I'm sorry", Hermione said, looking pretty embarrassed of her clinging onto Fred while flying.

"It's alright, Hermione, forget it. I'll be fine", he said, still grinning.

He then turned to enter the Burrow they were standing in front of. Hermione looked at it with a warm feeling inside. She remembered the countless times she had been here, enjoying how it was like to have a caring family.

Fred entered the house, Hermione on his tail.

"George, I'm back!", he yelled towards the stairs, not seeing his twin standing almost next to him in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I can see you", George answered, rubbing his ears.

"Oh right", Fred replied, grinning at his twin. "Look who I brought home!"

"Hey, Hermione", George greeted her with a wave and a puzzled smile. "What are you doing here? Ron and Ginny are on vacation, you know?"

"Yeah, I know", she said quietly. "I-"

"She asked us to pick her up earlier", Fred ended - for he sensed she was uncomfortable telling herself. She merely nodded and threw him a thankful look.

George watched his twin and Hermione out of confused eyes, yet closed the topic by saying: "So you'll spend this next two weeks with us? And only us?" He smirked and winked at her. "On your own risk, you may use Ginny's bedroom."

"Thanks… for letting me stay, guys", she said barely audible.

The both of them nodded and smiled at her. "The house is big enough and it would have been strange with just the two of us…", George stated with a smirking towards his brother who suppressed a laugh.

"Well, just say it's good to have someone else here", Fred replied and kicked his twin in the side who immediately started laughing, kicking Fred back.

Hermione watched them, feeling how the pain of the last hours left her body. It felt great to watch these two joke around. She silently left them in the kitchen heading to the stairs. When she took the first step upstairs, she heard someone calling her name.

She turned to see Fred.

"It'll be alright, okay?", he said quietly, smiling at her.

She nodded and gave back a shy smile.

"Try to rest a bit, yeah? We'll have dinner later that evening."

"Alright", she replied, turning to continue her way upstairs.

When Fred was leaving as well, she stopped and turned to him.

"Fred?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you", she whispered, blushing a bit.

He just smiled up at her before leaving to follow George who went outside.

Hermione then continued climbing the stairs until she reached Ginny's room where she had spent countless times talking to the youngest and only Weasley girl about everything she could think of. She had missed Ginny since the last school day. Their talks were kind of therapeutic to her. The first day she was away from school she felt the cold stab of loneliness and the urge to talk to someone. But there hadn't been anyone to talk to.

She slowly entered the room, closing the door and sitting down on the bed. She felt her heart sink at the thought of Ginny's absence. She nevertheless was happy to be here at all, seeing Ginny's things lying around in her room. Hermione lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a while. She quickly fell into the depths of another world, into the world of dreams.

Hermione awoke with a start as someone was calling her name. She almost jerked open her eyes, only to let out a small shriek when she saw Fred Weasley's face very close to hers. He pulled back and grinned.

"I'm sorry to wake you", he said, sitting down on the bed. "But I thought you might be hungry."

She then noticed the plate in his hands, filled with a sandwich and some cookies. Hermione sat up and wiped the sleep out of her eyes before looking at him.

"How long did I sleep?"

"I'd say very long", he pointed out of the window where the sky was almost black with stars sparkling on it. Only a bright moon was spreading dull light through the darkness.

"Oh", she said, following his gaze. "It didn't feel like that."

"Do you feel better though?", he asked, watching her closely.

She nodded, eyeing the sandwich on the plate. Following her gaze, he shoved her the plate, grinning. She then helped herself to three cookies and half of the sandwich in less than one minute.

"Sorry", she said with a mouthful of cookies when Fred watched her highly amused. "I was starving!"

He laughed and got up from the bed.

"Well enjoy the last cookies and have a goodnight!", he said, winking at her.

"I will", she said after swallowing.

He turned to leave the room.

"Good night, Fred!"

"Good night, Hermione!", he replied and left.

She looked after him and then stared into the dark of Ginny's room. The plate was finally empty and her stomach more or less filled. But she couldn't sleep now she was awake and accordingly slept more than enough for one day. She then put down the plate and got up from bed.

For a second she just stood in the middle of Ginny's room, realizing where she was and what has happened. Feeling a little awkward with no particular reason, she took the plate and left the room to bring it back into the kitchen. When she stepped out in the small and dark corridor, she could hear something explode somewhere upstairs. It was just a small and quite soundless explosion yet she was aware that the twins might be testing some of their jokes again.

Hermione, however, let them doing so and headed downstairs. When she reached the kitchen, she saw that the fire in the chimney was still glowing as if someone had been here recently. She put down the plate on the kitchen table and entered the living room. There she saw someone crawled up on the couch. She slowly approached the couch, recognising Fred Weasley lying there, apparently falling asleep while reading a large book called 'The Dos and Don'ts of being a business wizard'. That sounded odd in the hands of one of the twins.

Yet it dawned to Hermione that she didn't know the twins that much. Of course she knew that they left school to open up their own joke shop and this may afford more than just ideas of how to do a great prank. She kicked herself for underestimating Fred and George. Who else than smart and funny guys like them could have done the things they did over their years at Hogwarts and where else.

She watched the sleeping twin, not noticing that she stood in the middle of the room. She never looked at him so intensive as she did now. She then realized that he was in fact almost as tall as Ron, but his hair was like his twin's longer and somehow redder. His freckles glowed in the shine of the fire burning down slowly. His high cheekbones and his lean face structure matched perfect with his slim yet muscled body. Hermione recalled the flight to the Burrow, feeling his chest. That's how she imagined a chaser's chest. Being a beater at the Gryffindor team in Hogwarts for so many years shaped Fred as she could tell. She just looked closer at his hands, when someone cleared their throat.

She almost jumped as she stared down into two shining blue eyes.

"Enjoying what you see?", Fred said, grinning, sitting up slowly.

Hermione blushed immediately. She just stared at Fred. "I… I… I'm sorry… I… I didn't mean to…"

"Calm down, Hermione", he said, laughing. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I… couldn't sleep so I brought down the plate and-"

"Kind of stumbled over me, huh?" His grin made his face shine in the fire's glow.

"Kind of", she admitted. "I… I also stumbled over the book you're reading", she said, pointing down at the book in Fred's hands.

He looked down at it and placed it next to him on the couch. "Sounds more interesting that it actually is, trust me", he said. "Not to say it's boring… but I need it though!"

"For your shop, right? How is it going?"

"Well- hey, why don't you sit down? You may fall over in boredom", he grinned, pointing on the couch next to him.

She slowly sat down next to him. "I don't think it's boring to listen to you talking about your shop", she said, looking at him.

He smiled. "Well, some say it is… _I_ say it is… but well, yeah it's going quite good… we finally found an empty shop in Diagon Alley where we can start our business. We already have most of the articles we want to sell here… George is testing most of them right now-" It was now that Hermione heard yet another explosion from upstairs. "We may start to sell in a couple of weeks", he said and Hermione saw pride glimmering in his blue eyes.

She smiled. "That sounds great! I'm so happy for you!"

"Don't be! With us selling our jokes to every Hogwarts student who wants them you might get more work to do as a prefect, you know?"

Hermione met his grin and threw it right back. "But that's what it's all about, isn't it? The next year is your very last year, so with you guys gone, I wouldn't have anyone to blame for making trouble!"

He laughed. Her gaze trailed off to the fire that was glowing in the chimney. She felt him shifting on the couch and suddenly felt his hand on hers. Jumping a bit, she looked at him.

"Do you want to tell me what really happened at your parents' house?", he asked, his voice filled with earnestness.

She glared at him, feeling her throat tighten. She had neglected the thoughts of what had happened. Her eyes were burning as tears were forming inside.

"You don't have to", he quickly said, squeezing her hand slightly.

"Well… I… I'm sorry-"

"Stop apologizing for nothing", he whispered.

"Oh, I'm- yeah, alright, I'll stop it", she said with an awkward grin.

"Why were you parents or your mother so mad at you?"

"Well, I did something… that I already regret but I can't turn back time and… well, my mum caught me doing so and went crazy. She even said she would send me to a psychiatrist-"

"A psychiatrist?"

"Someone who speaks with people about their mental problems-"

"Yeah, I know", he said quietly, watching her. "But why did she say that? What have you done?"

Hermione refused to look at Fred. She didn't want to talk about it. Not now. But with Fred staring at her, she merely was able to pull up her sleeve.

Fred stared at Hermione's arm where he could see many red lines on her skin. Many little parallel red cuts.

"You're sure, Crookshanks didn't-"

"Yes. Because I did…"

"Right…", Fred said. "May I?", he asked, touching her arm and pulling it towards him.

He carefully stroke over the irritated skin, he could still feel the blood pulsating underneath these wounds. She winced a bit as he touched one of the bigger and deeper wounds. He let go of her arm, turning to look at her.

Sobbing soundlessly, she covered her face with her hands. He just sat beside her, ignoring the wounds that she had conjured by herself, and put an arm around her, pulling her towards him.

"It's alright", he whispered. "It's alright…"

She was sobbing mercilessly against his chest now, tears wetting his shirt. He felt kind of far away, holding her like this. These wounds made him nervous. He'd never seen something like this before. Yet he understood why one would like to hurt oneself. He'd read about it. Replacing emotional pain with physical by creating another source of pain. He sighed, holding her tightly. He'd never thought that Hermione would do something like this. He remembered her as a happy yet serious girl. Stubborn, adventurous, yet keen on books and on not breaking rules. She never seemed to have inner troubles. She seemed to be just perfect.

He suddenly knew he was wrong about her. Behind her perfect face she was just a girl carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, afraid of being alone, afraid of failing, afraid of not fitting in. He closed his eyes, feeling her still crying. He wanted to help her yet he didn't know how. He'd never been with her a lot. She was Ron's and Ginny's friend and just a schoolmate and girl to him. Until now. Now with the both of them gone, he was supposed to help her.

And he was willing to make this girl in his arm laugh again.

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**A/N: What do you think? I know I made Hermione a bit too… I don't know… extreme… yet I thought "Why not!"… hope you like it, tell me if or if not… Thank you!**


	3. Lost and Found

**DISCLAIMER: Nope...**

Chapter 3: Lost and Found 

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes became hours… Time passed by faster as she could imagine. Hermione felt as if she was falling into a bottomless pit. Yet she felt something holding her back, something like a chain around her foot that kept her from falling deeper. She felt the warmth of someone holding her.

Fred.

Tears were still streaming down her cheeks as she opened her eyes to look at his chest. He had pulled his arms around her and held her closely so that she again could smell the grass and lemon odour that swept around him. It felt good to be that close to him. Yet…

All of a sudden she pulled away from him, escaping his grip. She almost stumbled off the couch; just before hitting ground she pulled herself up again and then left the living room running, her insides burning with the fire of self-loathing. How could she sink that deep? How could she be so selfish?

Tears still streaming down her cheeks, she ran out of the house into the night. She could hear footsteps behind her but didn't turn around. She couldn't stop now that she ran away. She felt even sadder thinking about abandoning Fred's caring grip. Yet she wouldn't allow herself to think like this, she wouldn't allow herself to crawl on her knees, to beg for help, to –

No. Not again.

She realized she already begged for help, she already crawled on her knees, she already let herself down… how could she cry in front of Fred? How could she actually leave home with him, how could she possibly spend two weeks just with the twins? She must have been blind, she must have been stupid and totally out of her mind. And she still was.

She kept running through the dark, unaware of what was in front of her, unaware of what was behind. It was then, when she suddenly felt two hands grabbing her from behind. She let out a tearful scream, kicking the air when someone lifted her up and covered her mouth. Arms were pulled around her chest, lifting her off the ground. She couldn't see anything, but she smelled the odour of grass.

That, however, was the last thing she could think of before she passed out into an even darker world. The world of unconsciousness.

"Where's Hermione?", George asked when he came downstairs to see his twin lean against the doorframe of the kitchen, staring into the cold night. "Is she still sleeping?"

Fred didn't answer.

"Fred?", George asked again, stepping next to his twin. "Why are you standing here?"

He had often seen Fred doing strange things yet he couldn't remember this odd expression on his twin's face. An almost empty expression.

"Fred? What's wrong?", George kept asking.

Fred still didn't move.

"Goddamnit, FRED!", he yelled in his twin's ear, kicking his side.

Fred suddenly jumped, holding his ear with one hand.

"George! Bloody Hell, what was that for?", he asked with an angry look at his twin, rubbing his side with the other hand.

"You tell me, Bro", the other one said, looking concerned. "Where have you been?"

"Erm, right here", Fred replied, raising one brow. "Where else?"

"You seemed to be far away", George said, looking puzzled. "What happened? Don't tell me you're enjoying the night…"

"No", Fred said barely audible. "I…"

"What?"

Fred moved through the open door, stepping in the dark. George followed him.

"What?", he asked again.

"I lost her…", Fred said into the darkness. George could see him, rubbing his head as if someone had hit him.

"Who?"

"Hermione…"

"How? I thought she's still asleep upstairs…?"

"No, she wasn't…"

"So what happened?"

George stared into the dark where he expected his twin to be, but couldn't see anything. "Goddamnit", he mumbled and pulled out his wand from his pocket. "_Lumos_", he said and watched the small light at the tip of his wand illuminate. His surroundings lightened up at least a bit so he could see Fred standing in front of the little sea just a couple metres from him. He walked towards the place where his twin stood, staring into the dark again.

"What's wrong with you, mate?", George asked, his temper slightly rising. Fred never acted that strange before. His silence was quite annoying.

"Tell me or I'll kick your dumb ass into the lake!", he went on.

Fred suddenly turned to his twin, his gaze serious and a deep wrinkle between his eyes. "I lost her, how many times do I have to tell you? We were sitting in the living room when she suddenly ran away into the night. I followed her but I lost her."

George stared at his twin. "You lost her?"

"Yeah, goddamnit, do you get it now? She's somewhere out there, running to her own misery perhaps."

"It's not your fault –"

"Yes, it is! I scared her away!"

"How?", George asked puzzled. It was pretty unlike Hermione to be scared by a Weasley. Especially one of those Weasleys that she, as a prefect at Hogwarts, used to threat if they were starting to play a prank on someone again. She was the last one to be afraid of a Weasley.

"Don't start that now, George, we have to find her!", Fred said, suddenly standing many feet away from him, again staring into the dark.

"How? Where? She could be anywhere…"

"If we start searching, we might find her before dawn…"

"That's crazy, Fred, how should we find her in the dark?"

"Are we wizards or what?", Fred replied, pulling out his own wand and illuminating it as well.

"This reminds me of last summer", George said, when they started to search the nearby little forest.

"You mean the Quidditch Worldcup?"

"Yeah, let's just hope there are no Death Eaters around now…"

Hermione awoke with a bad headache. Her eyes hurt and her throat felt kind of scratchy. She coughed realizing that she lay on her back. Jerking her eyes open, she found herself lying in the dark, a dirty ground underneath.

She got up sleepily, rubbing her eyes that tried hard to get used to the darkness. When they finally focused, she saw that she was inside a very small room, something like a shed or a closet. She stood up weakly and leant against one of the near-by walls and pushed off the dust from her clothes. Furrowing her forehead, she looked around, realizing that she knew this shed.

It was the shed that was standing right behind the Burrow.

How did she get here? Who brought her here? What happened after she ran away from Fred?

Fred…

She suddenly remembered the reason she ran away at all. Now she felt even more stupid – if that was possible. She took a step towards the wooden door of the shed, pushing it open to reveal even more darkness. But there she could she the weal glowing of the fire of the chimney inside the house. And she could hear voices calling her.

She stepped into the darkness, following the voices.

"Hermione!", she heard from somewhere far away.

"HERMIONE!", someone yelled right next to her.

She let out a shriek and covered her ears. Steps approached her and then there was a small light blinding her.

"Hermione?"

She blinked into the light, slowly recognizing Fred's outline.

"Yeah, I'm here…", she said weakly.

"Where have you been? We've been looking for you for hours!", he said, watching her concerned.

"I… I, well I ran into the forest and… erm… I can't really remember", she said, scratching her head in confusion. "I… I woke up over there…" She pointed back at the shed. Fred stared past her before he stared at her in bewilderment.

"What!"

"I… I don't know what happened…", she whispered, rubbing her arms as the cold of the night took her into its freezing grip.

"Come, let's go inside again, shall we?"

She just nodded and followed Fred into the house. When he walked back outside to call for his twin who seemed to be still looking for her, she leant against the kitchen table, still rubbing her arms. She felt so stupid…

Fred then came back into the house, George on his tail. Both looked at Hermione with concern. They both changed gazes before George left the kitchen, heading to the stairs. Fred grabbed her arm gently and moved her toward the living room.

He sat down on the couch; she took the armchair next to it, staring into the glowing fervour of the fire. She bit her lip and scratched absentmindedly the skin under her sleeve.

"Hermione, tell me what's wrong", she finally heard Fred's voice.

She didn't turn to look at him, just continued staring into the fire.

"I'm sorry, Fred. I didn't mean to run away and cause you trouble or anything. I'm really sorry…", she muttered and got up slowly. "I think I better go…"

"Where to?", he asked.

"To… well, I don't know…"

And she turned to face him, tears glimmering in her eyes. He got up as well, looking down at her out of earnest blue eyes.

"It was wrong to call for help… I shouldn't have done that… I… I'm just an annoyance and I only cause trouble and –"

"Self-pity isn't the right thing now, don't you think?", he said quietly.

She stared at him, the first tear falling down from her eyes.

"Or let me say it differently, Hermione", he said and took a step towards her. "You are not an annoyance and you don't cause anyone trouble… it was right to call for help… one can only imagine what might have happened if you hadn't… now, calm down, get some rest and we talk it about tomorrow, alright?"

She still stared at him, standing just inches away from him. Her lips trembled. She wanted to say something but no words came out. Fred took her hand and smiled down at her.

"May I take you to Ginny's room, then?"

Hermione raised both brows.

"To answer your questions: yes, you can stay here. And no", he added, grinning. "I just want to get sure you find the right room!"

She caught herself smiling at him.

He then led her up the stairs towards Ginny's room where he stopped and opened the door for her.

"So, I hope you will be still here tomorrow, you wouldn't want to miss George's great breakfast!", he said, smirking.

"I –"

He let go of her hand and shook his head. "Don't ever thank me or apologize again, alright?"

"I try", she said, smiling. "It's hard though…"

"I know", Fred said, laughing. "Everyone wants to thank me!"

Hermione suppressed a laugh. She locked eyes with him and felt herself falling slightly. It was then when she realized something she hadn't thought about before.

"Erm, Fred?"

"Hm?"

"I… all my clothes and stuff are still at my parents' home…"

"So… you don't have anything to wear?", he said, grinning.

"Don't grin like that, it's…", she turned her head to look away, blushing slightly, whispering the last word: "Embarrassing!"

"I'm sorry, alright, do you want some shirt or what from me?"

It was just a simple question yet she felt her heart race faster.

"I think that was a yes", he said, pulling out his wand, and whispered: "_Accio_ shirt!"

He stretched out his hand just in time as a blue shirt came flying through the air. It landed right in his hand. He then gave it to Hermione who took it still not looking at him.

"Tha-"

"Nah!", he said, laughing. "No more thanks for me, I can't handle that!"

She then finally looked up at him and smiled shyly.

"Good night", he said, breaking the eerie situation.

"Good night", she replied.

With that he left her standing in front of Ginny's room.

She then turned around to enter the room, feeling slightly relieved to not be stared into a heavily blushed face anymore. She closed the door and walked over to the bed. Feeling the shirt in her hands, she sighed and got off her clothes, pulling on Fred's T-Shirt that was way to large but very comfortable – and it smelled of lemons…

And she liked lemons…

A/N: Now what's that? I got a question for you: What or who had caught Hermione in the forest and put her into the shed? What do you think? Tell me, I'd be interested! Thank you!


	4. Confusion

**(Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything… besides the plot and Hermione's bloody deeds… heheh… yeah, so again… the rest's not mine!**

**A/N: So here's chapter 4… oh and before I forgot: thank you sooo much, SnowRose23 for your comment, this update's for you I never imagined to get a review at all… so thank you again for reading and reviewing!)**

Chapter 4: Confusion 

Hermione fell into a dreamless sleep. She had felt really knocked out and fell asleep almost immediately. Before she found herself into the depth of black and motionless sleep, she had seen images inside her head. Images of dark forests, of blood and of angry faces that turned into smiling one. There was red hair and blue eyes. And she felt herself reminded of Ron. She had almost forgotten about Fred and George's younger brother. How he had hurt her the last year. How they had become friends again. How everything had changed.

She first had realized her feelings for Ron when it was way too late. He would never feel the same for her, not in the way she wanted him to. She knew he was too young, he was, however, her age but she knew what they said about boys and girls in the same age. Girls were always brighter and more mature than boys in the same age. Cliché, yet truth. She had tried to push her feelings away to where they had come from. Which wasn't an easy mission.

But now there was another type of red hair and another pair of blue eyes.

She felt herself shifting in her sleep. She forced herself to abandon these thoughts and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

Hours seemed to pass by but when she finally awoke again, the sky looked as tired as she felt. The sun had just risen and yellowish light spread among the surroundings. She sat up in the bed, staring down at the big blue shirt that was covering half her body. When her gaze wandered to the red strains on her left arm she felt even smaller. She quickly got up and walked towards the window.

A new day had come. She had to use it. Like Fred was saying to her last night, self-pitying wasn't the right thing to do now…

Hermione sighed and walked over to the door, listening if there was still movement around. When she couldn't hear anything, she left Ginny's room and headed to the bathroom at the other end of the corridor. She laid her hand on the door-handle – just in time to see the door open and a half naked red hair coming out of the bathroom.

She stared and quickly turned around. "Oh I'm sorry!", she said, blushing.

"I said no more apologies, remember?"

She turned her head to see Fred smile at her.

"I… forgot…", she muttered, staring at the ground, noticing that Fred was only wearing long striped pyjama bottoms.

"Alright, so, it's your turn now", he said, making her look at her by bending down so that their faces were only inches away.

Hermione swallowed, trying to smile and ignoring his naked chest with these perfect muscles and –

"Hermione?"

"Hm?" His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she blushed slightly – if that was possible for she already was red like a tomato.

"I assume you wanted to use the bathroom, right?", Fred said, smiling.

"Er, yes, yes, I –"

He just nodded and shoved her into the bathroom by gently touching her shoulders. She could feel her skin burn at his touch. She quickly slapped herself mentally for letting it happen.

"So, have fun", he said, about to close the door. "Oh, I almost forgot, we'll have breakfast in half an hour, okay?"

"I… I'll be there", she muttered, grinning kind of strange.

He laughed and closed the door with a wink.

As soon as he was out of sight, Hermione collapsed on the floor, covering her face in her hands. She felt so stupid… She felt tears running down her cheeks. Loud sobs erupted from her throat; she just couldn't handle it anymore. She didn't know why exactly she cried right now, she just felt the urge to do so. She knew there was no particular reason but she couldn't stop herself. Rolling herself up on the ground, crying into her hands, she seemed to fall into another world where it was dark, dusty and full of disturbing shadows…

A knock let the shadows burst into thousands of little black dots that disappeared very quickly, letting her come back into the real world where she lay crying on the floor of the Weasley's bathroom.

She gasped as the door began to open.

"Wai-wait!", she tried to say, crumbling to her feet.

She just reached the door and prevented it to open further when she saw another red head appear in the small gab between door and frame. As soon as it appeared it was gone again.

"Hermione? Everything okay with you?", she heard George's voice from the other side of the door.

"Ye-yeah, everything's alright", she said, trying to sound normal. She quickly wiped the tears off her face.

"D'you come down to have breakfast with us?", he asked through the door.

"Yeah, I will", she said hurriedly.

"Alright, see you then!"

She breathed hard when she could hear him going downstairs. Sighing deeply, she walked to the sink and threw cold water into her face. Feeling refreshed again, she dried her face with a towel that unfortunately smelled like lemons. She quickly threw it back to where it had been and stared at the reflection of the mirror that showed a terribly torn girl with bushy hair that seemed to have lost the last trace of energy – just like her heart and soul had.

She slowly turned to the door and left the bathroom, hurrying into Ginny's bedroom to change into her clothes again. She then wiped the last tears off her eyes and went, sighing deeply, upstairs. She reached the kitchen where the twins sat on opposite sides of the table, helping themselves to toast, orange juice and pancakes.

Hermione met their gazes superficially and sat down at the head side of the table, after arguing to herself about where she should sit down, next to George or next to Fred. She decided against both. She couldn't even look one of them straight in the eye. She still felt stupid about her behaviour. If she just could get rid of these things inside…

"Hermione?", someone called her name.

She looked up from her still empty plate, turning her head from Fred to George and back.

"Help yourself, alright?", George said and pointed at the plate with pancakes on it. "I made them myself…"

She stared down at the pancakes. "Really?", she asked, her voice cracking. She caught herself again and brought up a smile. "Without magic, I assume?"

"Well, now you got me", George grinned.

Hermione smiled at him. "But good work, though!"

"Thanks", he said with a wink.

She grabbed the fork lying next to her plate and helped herself to a pancake and poured some orange juice into her glass afterwards. The breakfast passed by quite fast, and at the end of it, Fred addressed Hermione, causing her to almost spill out the orange juice she had just drunk.

"Hermione, I thought about your little clothes-problem… what if we fly back to your parents' house and get it?"

She swallowed hard and wiped the left corner of her mouth. "What!"

"Well, you can't stay here without your stuff, now can you?"

"But…"

"I can't borrow you my shirts forever", he said with a grin.

She blushed a bit, nodding sheepishly. "You're right, but –"

"Don't worry", he added. "Your parents won't catch you and put you behind bars or something."

She watched him closely. 'Well, it's worth a try…', she thought. 'Yet again –'

"Look, we'll fly there, wait until your parents leave the house and sneak in, alright? We'll get your trunk and your stuff and gone we are again…", he said, interrupting her inner-fight. "What do you think?"

She turned to look at George who just shrugged. "It's not that hard, now is it?", he said. "We've done more spectacular stuff, haven't we, Fred?", he added with a grin at his twin who nodded smirking.

"Well, alright then", Hermione finally said, looking at the twins in rotary.

"Great", Fred said, standing up. "Let's clean the table and rest a bit, I think it's better we fly in the afternoon, okay?"

Hermione nodded, knowing her parents often used the afternoons to drive around to town. She stood up as well, helping the twins to carry plates and glasses to the sink where George just pointed his wand at the crockery in order to let them clean themselves.

After that the twins both went into the garden to test some of their jokes.

"Don't want to blow up the house", they said grinning. "Mum wouldn't like that…"

Hermione could tell that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't like that. It was strange enough that they were all by themselves at the Burrow - for she knew that Mrs. Weasley never would dare to leave these two alone. Yet she had to admit that Fred and George were already seventeen years old and with that they were of age in the wizarding world. Hermione assumed that Mrs. Weasley wanted to test their ability of being responsible. It seemed very brave of their mother to do so, though.

Yet Hermione felt the reason why she had left her sons. She trusted them – whatever they had done before, she just trusted them. She, Hermione, had to do the same. Before her brain could accept that thought, her heart almost screamed at her that she already trusted them. She watched them through the kitchen window, smiling slightly. She then got upstairs again, hiding in Ginny's bedroom, lying on the bed, reading some of Ginny's old school books. Before she knew it she fell asleep again, falling into spinning dreams.

She was running through the forest again. Darkness embraced her forcefully. The moon was just a small sickle at the black sky. She heard twigs break around her and leaves rustle, she felt stares on her back and hands grabbing her as she ran through the dark. Her heart pounded in her ears, her throat felt as if someone was squeezing it. She started to look around in panic, seeing staring eyes everywhere, sensing the presence of thousand other things that didn't seem to be nice.

Suddenly she felt another breath next to her. She spun around but she couldn't see anything. Before she could keep on running, there were two hands grabbing her upper arms, pulling her into a bone-breaking grip. Her body was lifted off the ground when one arm pressed her against another body. One hand covered her mouth but she nevertheless managed to scream.

It echoed through her head, followed by a gently voice.

"Hermione?"

She woke up with a start, sitting in the bed panting. Cold sweat was streaming down her back and face. She wiped it off her forehead, trying to breathe normally again. She then noticed someone sitting at the end of the bed.

Hermione almost jumped, recognizing Fred's worried face.

"How-how long have you been sitting there?", she muttered, staring at him.

"I heard you scream so I came looking for you", he replied. "You alright?"

"I-I just had a nightmare, that's all, I'm fine", she whispered hurriedly, eyeing him doubtfully.

"You missed lunch", he said.

"I'm not hungry, thanks", she replied, smiling slightly.

"Alright." Fred nodded, standing up. "I'm downstairs when you're ready to go, okay?"

Hermione threw him a puzzled look before recalling their plan. She then nodded, blushing a little.

He winked at her, leaving the room.

As soon as he was gone, she rolled her eyes, shaking her head and kicking herself mentally. Stupid. Just stupid. She got up, put Ginny's books back into the shelves on the wall and decided to visit the bathroom before she went down. She stared at the mirror, watching the pale girl with these deep brown eyes. She tried to straighten her hair with her hands but it was no use. Her bushy hair always did what it wanted. She gave up controlling it and left the bathroom.

Reaching the kitchen, she saw Fred outside, polishing his broomstick. George stood next to him, talking. She slowly stepped towards the door, catching bits of their conversation.

"- you think it's nice?", George asked, his hands in his pockets.

"Why not?", Fred replied, busy cleaning his broom.

"Isn't it rude?"

"Why's that?"

"What will they think? Us inviting another girl?"

"They won't mind, trust me. They like her. Besides, we didn't invite her."

"Well, you better hope they like her. I don't want to see another catfight…"

"No? Too bad… I thought those were highly amusing…"

The twins laughed.

Hermione watched them puzzled, before deciding to show herself. She then stepped outside.

"Hey, Hermione", George addressed her, seemingly swallowing down his surprise.

"You ready?", Fred asked, looking up from his broom.

She just nodded, walking over to Fred who threw a last look at his twin before the other one went inside the house again. Fred then mounted his broom, waiting for Hermione to do the same.

But she just stared at the broom.

"Still afraid of flying, huh?", he said, getting off his broom.

She watched him motionless. She felt kind of awkward and there was something else burning in her head that she couldn't name yet. Fred stepped next to her, the broom in his hand.

"Trust me, will you? You survived the first time, you will survive this one as well!", he said, grinning. "Alright then, sit down in front of me, this might be saver…"

She still stared at him, locking eyes with him. Sighing and muttering under her breath, she mounted the broom, feeling him sitting down behind her. She clutched the handle of the broom with both hands, shaking slightly. He leant over her, pulling his arms around her to also clutch the handle of the broom. She felt kind of squeezed by his body but she also felt more secure than the last time she flew.

He then kicked off the ground, hovering in mid-air, her feet slowly losing stability. Hermione swallowed hard, clutching the broom harder. She could feel his breath on her neck that made her skin feel like on fire. She closed her eyes and ignored the flicking sensation inside her stomach when he leaned in closer to direct the broom through the air.

There were flying which seemed to be more than an hour, but when she opened her eyes to bravely look around and find out where there were, they were still flying over fields and forests, far away from civilisation and her parents' house.

Hermione sighed - louder than she had expected, before jumping at the sound of Fred's voice in her ear.

"Finally enjoying it?", he whispered.

"Well, I'm getting used to it, yeah", she replied, smiling to herself.

It was then that she recalled the feeling she had before flying off with Fred. It came back slowly but devastatingly hard she almost thought she would be knocked over by it.

"Fred", she said quietly. "I…"

She stopped, thinking that admitting to have overheard his conversation with his brother wouldn't be the right thing to do. She quickly reformed her thoughts.

"What is it?", he asked.

"I just wondered, erm, well, do you really want me to be at the Burrow?"

He suddenly slowed down the broom, stopping in mid-air. Hermione saw her legs hover way too high above a wide field. She swallowed and looked up again.

"Are you serious?", he asked, leaning sideways so that he could see her face.

She slowly turned to look at him.

"Well, I just thought about it. I came here uninvited and I must be quite a pain in the ass, now am I not? And I… I just feel like I'm unwanted, you know…", she muttered into the wind.

He turned his head again, looking down, before he took one hand off the broom handle to touch her chin gently, making her turn her head around a little more. They locked eyes.

"You're not unwanted", he said quietly. "I think it's great to have you here. Besides, I don't think you wanted this to happen, right? I mean the reason why you owled us. It wasn't planned, and I'm actually glad you called us for help. Who knows what might have gotten to your mind if you hadn't. So, forget it, will you? We'll now get your stuff, leave your parents a message that you're fine and then fly right back – and you enjoy the last three weeks before the next school year begins, alright?"

She wanted to look away but he still had his hand at her chin. She barely managed to nod. He smiled at her and let go of her chin. While she turned to look at her hands clutching the broom handle, he leaned in again to direct the broom further through the air. The rest of the flight they both remained silent, Fred busy directing the broom, Hermione caught into an inner struggle again. She finally told her herself to shut up. She had to enjoy this now. These self-doubts would destroy her newly discovered freedom. She suddenly felt a bit like a rebel, running from her parents' place, living with the greatest pranksters she'd ever known. She had to admit that it felt great…

'No more tears, you hear me? If you collapse one more time, I'll kick you with my own hands', she thought, grinning at the thought. Rolling her eyes, she concentrated on the houses appearing in the distance. The last task. After getting her stuff, she was free. No more yelling parents, no more troubles and arguments about how to clean her room or how to keep the house clean and so on. When Fred leaned over to slow the broom down and direct it towards the ground, she sighed, feeling ready to fight the demons called parents.

Though she hoped that they were out…

(A/N: Up next: Fred raids Hermione's room, Hermione gets a bad headache because of whatever and so much more… keep reading)


	5. The invisible force

**(Disclaimer: No… I don't own anything… no… oh and let me tell you this is set after The Goblet of Fire, no spoilers ahead!**

**A/N: So here's chapter 5… this one's kind of bloody, so BEWARE! Now I warned you so don't complain… hey, and again: thank you to _Rainstruck Elegance_ for reviewing loves reviews I'm so happy you guys actually read and like my story… now I feel forced to write more… heheh… well, I like writing so it's not your fault gg Alright, again thank you for reading! **

**Remember: this chap is quite bloody… everyone knowing Self-Injurious Behaviour, it might be something like a trigger… so beware! But nevertheless: keep reading :) )**

_Chapter 5: The invisible force_

Hermione's stomach made a funny flick when Fred landed next to some high bushes. She shook her head absentmindedly, making him stare at her with a bright grin. He then climbed off the broom, waiting for her to do the same.

"You alright?", he said with a laugh.

"Do I look that funny, huh?", she said and looked at him, raising one eye brow.

"Well, yeah", he said, laughing.

She stared at him, her hands on her hips. "Oh, great _you_ have fun", she said.

What happened? She suddenly felt relieved. She couldn't help but smile at Fred. With her standing on solid ground again, she seemed to have lost the weight that had been tied to her shoulders, pulling her down. It was the first time since the very incident that she felt like really enjoying Fred's presence. His laughter seemed to be relieving.

Shaking his head still grinning, Fred shouldered the broom and turned around to look along the street. Hermione stepped beside him, doing the same. There was no one out there on this ordinary afternoon. They began walking down the street towards her parents' house. The nearer they came, the more nervous did Hermione get. She felt her heart racing when they took the last corner. The parental house came into view, an ordinary two-story house that looked just the same like the other houses around.

When they could finally see the front yard, Hermione's heart made a flick.

There was no car standing in front of the garage. They had to be out!

"I think they're gone", she muttered. Fred nodded.

"So, do you have… keys?", he asked, approaching the front door.

She looked at him, her forehead furrowed. "You serious?"

"Well, I read about Muggles closing their doors with keys... you don't have any?"

"Of course I have some, but not with me. And besides. Are you a wizard or not? You are seventeen; you are allowed to use magic outside of school now. So, go ahead!", she said, smirking.

He watched her while pulling out his wand.

"I have to remember this", he said, grinning. "Hermione Granger, famous and feared prefect, allows me, Fred Weasley, one of two most famous pranksters, to sneak into a Muggle house. Just an honourable moment, this is…"

She hit his elbow jokingly. "Yeah, yeah, do write a book about it, will you", she muttered, looking around. "Now open the door!"

"_Alohomora",_ he whispered, pointing his wand at the door that momentarily jumped open.

Hermione squeezed herself beside him through the open gap into the house. He followed and closed the door again. At the same time as Hermione checked the first floor, Fred looked around kind of fascinated. His dad would have been more than delighted to see a real Muggle house. He remembered the last time he had seen a Muggle house. Just last year when he along with his brothers and father had picked up Harry from the Dursley's. He recalled that house being so clean he'd felt as if stepping into another world. A world he just didn't belong. It was so clean and neat that he had no problems seeing his face on the wooden floor.

This house, however, seemed to be just the place where a Hermione wanted to live. There were shelves full of books in the living room and neat, yet kind of shaggy carpets on the floor. There were pictures of happy smiling people on the walls. Fred waited some minutes for them to move in their frames, soon recalling that Muggles didn't have moving pictures. A shame. He then stepped into the kitchen smelling fresh baked bread.

Moving towards the odd looking oven, he was totally sunk into the amazing smell that he didn't notice Hermione entering the kitchen as well. At the same time as he moved to open the oven, Hermione hand was on his shoulder. He almost jumped, closing the oven door with a loud clap.

"What is it with you Weasley's and food… haven't you just had lunch before we fly off?", Hermione asked, pulling Fred away from the oven.

"It smelled so good", he replied, grinning sheepishly.

Hermione just raised one brow.

"Come on, I don't know how long my parents will be away…"

She then left the kitchen, heading to the stairs. Fred hurried after her.

"So now I'm gonna see your room, huh?", he asked, climbing the stairs after her. "I wonder what it will be looking like…"

"Stop it, yeah?", she said, her temper rising.

Fred watched her head shake again.

They then reached the second floor. Hermione headed to the door at the end of the corridor. She opened the door, passed it – and closed it again, so that Fred almost ran into it.

"Hey, Hermione", he called through the door. "Let me help you!"

"No, I don't need your help with this. I can pack my stuff by myself, thank you!", she replied on the other side of the door.

Fred raised both brows, shrugging and turning to watch the motionless pictures on the walls.

"Boring", he said and continued watching.

Hermione felt weird being in her room again. She breathed deeply, stepping towards her closet. Pulling out the big trunk from above it, she began cramming her clothes together and threw them relentlessly into the trunk. She passed the nightstand of her bed to collect some books – when she suddenly felt something grab her bottom. It was as if something was tied around her belly, pulling her backwards with an invisible force. Her eyes were fixed on something at the nightstand. Something she had hoped to see no more.

The small razor blades lay there in a tiny slop of blood, half-covered from one of her books. She felt her heart race and her stomach flip. The urge to vomit was growing inside her. She stared at the little knives before everything turned black and she couldn't fight the force that pulled her down anymore.

So she fell into her memory…

Hermione was sitting on her bed. The sun was shining brightly at her face. Next to her lay a bunch of books she wanted to read over the holidays. She leaned over to grab the string she used to put around her hair (so it wouldn't disturb her while reading) from the nightstand when she saw these two little things lay underneath one of her books. She'd never seen anything like this before, at least she thought. She then remembered seeing it in one of her father's books. She used to read every book she could find in her parents' house when she was a kid. It had been a book about the history of shaving. An odd book. Yet it said that men used to shave their beards with little razor blades that are sometimes even used nowadays.

She put one of them between her fingers; it was so tiny, yet she felt how it cut into her skin, the blade was so sharp she only had to touch it to begin bleeding. She wanted to let it fall to the floor – but she couldn't. Something made her keep it, something even made her move the blade to her left arm where it cut shortly into her skin creating a little red line on her arm. She gasped. The pain was terrible. Yet she couldn't stop it. Her head went empty, her mind went blank. She wanted to scream but she couldn't even open her mouth.

The invisible force let her cut deep into her skin so that her arm was full of little red strains after some minutes. Blood was dripping from some of the deeper wounds to the carpet where they left small bloodstains. The hand that was holding the blade hurt so much, she wanted to pull it away but she couldn't. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. Then there was a voice inside her head. She almost jumped hearing it the first time.

"Show them what you are able to!"

She looked around in shock but there was no one to whom the voice might have belonged. She then slowly looked down at her left arm where the blade was still cutting wounds into her skin. 'Stop it! PLEASE STOP IT!', she screamed but her voice never made it outside her head.

Suddenly there was movement in front of her door. Terrified, Hermione looked up from the wounds on her arm that she didn't produce willingly. The door opened and her mother went in, a smile on her face that died soon after she had stepped inside the room, seeing her daughter apparently hurt herself. Her friendly face turned into a grotesque mask of shock and anger.

Hermione wanted to tell her that she didn't do that, that she couldn't stop because there was something that made her do so. But yet again, she couldn't. Tears were still streaming down her cheeks and blood was still dripping from her wounds, turning the carpet at her feet into a crimson mess. Her mother yelled at her and moved towards her, trying to grab the razor blades out of her hands.

They suddenly slipped from Hermione's hands as if the invisible force let them fall to the ground. She soon after collapsed on the floor, her arm aching, her head turning, and her heart racing. She barely noticed her mother yelling, calling for her father, and she barely noticed someone lying her down on the bed. She heard voices and screams, words and curses. Anger and shock. Then she fell into a very dark world.

Silence deafened her senses. She tried to open her eyes or even move her body, but she didn't feel strong enough. She just lay on her bed, breathing hard. Hours seemed to have passed by but when she finally managed to open her eyes, the sun was still shining brightly at her pale face. She sat up and looked around. The room was empty and the smell of blood and cleanser tickled her nose. Breathing deeply, she looked down at her left arm. Dried blood blemished her skin. She felt her head spinning again when she slowly got up from bed. She grabbed her sweater, pulled it over her shaking body and walked tumbling and trembling through the house.

She could hear her mother talk to someone on the phone. She remembered her yelling at her she would be send straight to a psychiatrist. Her heart sank. She quickened her steps and left the house through the front door. There she hid behind the big willow tree, waiting for her owl to come back from hunting. She felt as if in trance, and before she knew it she was standing back in her room, knowing that more than twenty-four hours had passed…

She was leaning against her closet, panting hard. Her arm hurt when she remembered what she had just recalled. The memory burned inside her mind. She shook her head, turning to look at the nightstand. She remembered the razor blades lying on the ground when she saw them the last time. But now they were lying on the nightstand again, just like they did the day before.

Something strange was going on.

A knock on the door made her jump.

"Hermione? You've finished yet?", called Fred's voice through the door.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the door and opened it. His red head appeared on the other side. His gaze changed from nosy to concerned.

"You alright? You look pale…", he said, watching her.

She just nodded and went back into the room to finish packing. She threw the last books into the trunk and slammed it shut. When she tried to raise it, Fred entered the room and bewitched it with his wand. It now hovered inches from the ground.

"Thanks", she muttered, turning to grab the last things from her desk, including her own wand and some coins that she shoved into the pockets of her trousers. She then walked over to the window, looking down the street.

Fred heard her gasp in shock. He turned to step beside her, seeing that a car approached the house. Hermione's parents were about to come back.

"What now? Do you have a back yard door or something?"

"No", she merely whispered.

"Come on, we have to go –"

"They are already in the house", she whispered again, making Fred stare at her.

"How do you –", he began before hearing noise from downstairs. "Damn it!"

He turned to her, seeing her still standing at the window.

"Hermione", he whispered, touching her arm. "Come on, we –"

She suddenly turned around and left the room. Fred stared after her with big eyes. She came back soon after, holding his broom in her hand. He seemed to have forgotten it on the second floor somewhere. She gave it to him and walked over to her desk like in trance. There she scribbled a small note on a piece of parchment before throwing it on the bed. Fred could only see two lines on it, saying:

"_Don't be afraid, I'm fine. _

_And please don't go looking for me! H."_

He then watched her opening the window. His brows went up and disappeared under his hair. What was she doing?

"Could you help me?", she finally addressed him, making him almost jump at the tone of her voice. She sounded a bit like his mother. Not good.

He helped her carry the trunk towards the window, bewitching it to be attached to his broom. She then mounted the broom with him following her.

"This is insane", he muttered as he kicked off the windowsill and flew off into the darkening sky.

"Now that's something I have to remember", she said, turning her head so he could hear her. "Hermione Granger, famous and feared prefect, showed Fred Weasley, one of the two most famous pranksters, how to sneak in and of course _out_ of a Muggle house. A really honourable moment to learn from me, isn't it, Fred?"

He saw her grin from the side and couldn't help admitting that she was right.

Not that she thought she might have taught him something, but the fact that she might actually be a girl that was more than a bookworm and a know-it-all. She seemed to be more rebel than he had thought she was.

Impressing.

**A/N: Thanks for reading, more is coming soon, I promise! **


	6. The forest

**Au_thor's Note_: Well, you know the **disclaimer** by now, don't you? I hate repeating myself _xGGx_ So here's chapter 6… thanks for reading so far and thank you **PandylBas** for reviewing _xloves reviewsx_ well after the last (bloody) chapter I decided on creating some action and the first signs of Hermione's… let's called it… insanity… hope you like it! Enjoy!**

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_Chapter 6: The forest_

Sitting in front of Fred on the broom heading back to the Burrow (her trunk flying after them held by an invisible string attached to the broom's end), Hermione felt really weird. She didn't know why, well, she imagined the reason, but she didn't know what to think about it. What was happening to her? Why did she feel all depressed and awkward? What was the deal with these razor blades? Why was she acting so strange? It didn't feel like she was herself anymore…

Her hands tightened around the handle of the broom, her face caressed by the wind, her hair fluttering against Fred's chest. She sighed, finally enjoying broom riding a bit. She even dared to look around, feeling quite save between Fred's arms that kept her from falling off by tightly clutching the broom's handle in front of her. They hadn't said a word to each other after they had left Hermione's parents' house. She first had felt kind of brave escaping her parents by flying off through her bedroom window. Yet this feeling wouldn't last long when the memory she had had in her room came back.

She could feel her arm aching. Her head was still rumbling like the Hogwarts Express. She didn't know what to think. She wanted to cry yet she felt the urge to scream and punch something. Someone. She didn't know why, she didn't know anything. She just felt strange as if she woke up from a most disturbing dream – yet knowing that this wasn't a dream at all.

Or was it?

She sighed again, closing her eyes to relax and calm down. She felt Fred shifting behind her, ignoring the odd sensation inside her belly. What was it with her blushing all the time she met his gaze? She felt so stupid again. She had to stop blushing. Oh and she had to stop feeling stupid about nothing and everything and she had to ease a bit. No, not a bit. Very much. 'Calm down, girl', she told herself. 'You've known him since when? Right, since you've known Ron and Harry… more than four years to be certain… so what's the deal? Stop –'

"Hermione", his voice interrupted her inner fight with… herself.

She almost jumped, jerking her eyes open.

"Hm?", she asked, looking around puzzled. They were still flying across fields. No Burrow in sight. "What?"

"Erm", he began, shifting behind her again. She wanted to turn her head to look at him, but before she could do so, he took one hand of his from the broom and grabbed her left arm. "Look."

She stared down at it, only noticing in a great wave of shock and nausea that her arm was bleeding – through her sweater. She pulled up the sleeve in total panic, seeing that the wounds on her skin started bleeding again. What the –

"I'd better pull down", Fred muttered, directing the broom to land in front of a nearby forest. He got off the broom, still holding it with one hand when Hermione got off as well. She climbed down like in trance, in fact shocked about what happened to her. Whatever it was.

He watched her falling to her knees, holding her left arm with her right hand. He let go of the broom and kneeled down next to her. He wanted to ask her if she was all right – what she apparently wasn't. So he saved his words.

"How – but what – and why… and –", he heard her mutter.

Concern furrowed his forehead. She seemed to be totally confused. She stared down at her arm, fresh blood dripping from the wounds that were supposed to be dried. What happened that they started bleeding again? He looked up to focus on where they were; realizing that the sun was about to set and they were at the edge of a very dark forest. He looked around to see a very wide field on the other side. Great. Perfect place to be right now. He rolled his eyes and turned back to Hermione who seemed to have gotten to her feet when he was discovering their surroundings.

He stood as well, looking for her. Frowning, he realized that he couldn't see her.

"Erm, Hermione?", he asked, spinning around, searching the slightest trace of bushy hair. The only things he could see were the field, the forest with its large, dark and somehow spooky trees and the broom that was lying along with her trunk at his feet. But where was Hermione?

He looked around once more, thinking that he might have overlooked her.

"Hermione?", he yelled into the nearby forest.

Rolling his eyes, he picked up the broom and enchanted the trunk to hover after him, following like a dog without legs. He then made his way past some rather dead looking trees. It was summer, goddamnit. Why were these trees without leaves? Shrugging, he kept going deeper into the forest, soon realizing how the last bits of sun disappeared as he stepped past more and more odd-looking trees. Odd. Even odder than the fact that Hermione seemed to have disappeared into thin air…

* * *

High above the red head a shadow stroke through the treetops.

* * *

Hermione let out a muffled shriek when she realized that she wasn't with Fred anymore. She couldn't remember splitting up from him after they landed and she –

She stared down at her left arm, almost ripping off the sleeve. There were the strains, yet they weren't bleeding anymore. What – How long could she have been possibly away from Fred? She could remember how he had shown her these bleeding wounds of hers and she could remember how he had directed the broom to land at the edge of this dark forest. But she couldn't remember actually stepping _into_ the forest. There was a large black hole where they should have been the memory of it.

She frowned, looking around a bit bewildered. She scanned her surroundings. There were large dead trees whose twigs seemed to grab her. She backed up, stumbling right into a large bush whose thorns cut into her skin and clothes. She lost her grip and fell right into it, cutting herself even worse. Before landing on the forest's ground with her bottom, she took hold of a very large and thick twig, pulling herself up again.

Sighing slightly, she pushed off the thorns that were caught in her clothes and hair. She then realized that the twig that she had used to pull herself out of the bush had disappeared – or at least vanished from her sight. She looked around again, soon sensing something striking around her feet. She slowly looked down, only to let out a high-pitched scream.

* * *

Fred stopped walking. He had been wandering through the dark forest since forever and Hermione was still nowhere to be found. He had heard weird things around, breaking twigs, rustling leaves (where there obviously weren't any leaves around), strange animals whining – and the last thing he remembered hearing was a high-pitched scream.

"Hermione!", he called through the dim darkness.

But there was no response. He illuminated his wand, carrying the broom and along with it Hermione's trunk with him. He looked around, trying to recall the direction where the scream had come from. But before he could take another step, something flew past him. He turned around but there was nothing but darkness and dead trees. 'Maybe a bird or a bat', he told himself, not wanting to think about other possibilities.

He cleared his throat and kept on walking.

When suddenly another scream swept through the forest…

* * *

Hermione thought she totally lost it now. She couldn't but scream. Her mind went blank again. There were faces staring at her, hands and claws touching her, coming from everywhere, voices whispered disturbing things into her ears. She felt herself back up against one of the dead trees. As soon as she hit the tree with her back, it seemed to back up as well. She tried to turn around but suddenly there were twigs grabbing her, holding her tightly. She let out a scream again when the twigs turned into angry whizzing snakes that were sliding around her body.

She struggled to free herself but it wouldn't help. The snakes hissed, causing her to freeze. She didn't dare to breathe. Suddenly something flew past her, like a bird, but she couldn't tell what it was. As soon as it was gone, the snakes turned into twigs again and Hermione fell to the ground. Panting hard, she didn't dare to move. There were still whispered voices in her ears and some indefinable noises crept through her head. Her heart was racing against her chest and the blood within her veins seemed to burn. She also could feel her arm aching again.

Her breath was forming little white clouds in front of her face. She hadn't realized how cold it suddenly was. She sat up on the ground, rubbing her arms. She slowly looked around, yet seeing only darkness and the outlines of the dead trees. What kind of a forest was that? Deciding to better stand up before she might turn to ice when sitting on the ground without moving or before these twigs turned into snakes again, she did so and took some steps to the left, spinning around now and then and taking some steps to the right.

Before she knew it, she ran back and forth in panic, not knowing where to go.

* * *

Fred hurried through the forest, broom and trunk behind him, his illuminated wand in front of him. He had followed the scream before telling himself it could have been only an echo, which wasn't helping him at all. So he just ran into the direction he thought it had come from. The trees seemed to stand closer here; it took him some time to walk past them with all the baggage he carried. After he had managed to walk through he found himself standing on a small clearing.

Sighing at the sight of yet another amount of dead trees ahead, he dropped the broom along with the trunk, looking around. There was nothing but darkness. He raised his gaze to look at the treetops only to find that there were no treetops at all, at least he couldn't see them. He didn't know if the sun had already set - for he couldn't see any small bit of the evening sky. Shaking his head in resignation, he sat down on Hermione's trunk.

Where could she possibly be? Why did she at all run into the forest? What was happening here? Before his head seemed to burst under the weight of these questions, he heard the breaking of twigs in the distance. He stood up and walked to the edge of the clearing, focussing on the darkness. Was there something moving back there? He threw one last look at the broom and the trunk and decided to leave them where they peacefully lay on the ground. He then stepped out of the clearing between the dead trees, walking towards the apparently moving shadow.

* * *

Hermione ran blindly through the forest. Her breath burned inside her throat. Her feet hurt from hitting against stones and tree roots every other time. She breathed heavily, seemingly running since forever. She stopped panting, leaning against one of the trees. Before she could reach it, it seemed to have changed places. She lost her grip and fell forwards, head first into a bush. She quickly crawled out of it again, getting to her feet, turning around in shock and panic. She then continued running, actually forgetting which way she had come from.

It didn't matter. The noises inside her head just made her run, whatever way she chose, they encouraged her to run. She felt as if directed by invisible hands. While running, she turned to look sideways, before hitting something hard. She almost fell backwards, when two hands grabbed her.

She immediately started screaming again, feeling some kind of force grab her, holding her tightly, squeezing her. 'It will squeeze me to death!', she thought desperately. She kicked and struggled, not able to hear the thing talk to her.

* * *

"Hermione! Hermione, calm down, it's me, Fred!"

* * *

She continued struggling, kicking and hitting someone's chest with her fists. Someone? A thought erupted between the screams inside her head. The fog lightened and she slowed down her movements before she froze completely. She gasped before some cloud of unconsciousness caught her. Her eyes seemed to roll up her head, her heart missing a beat. She then sank into herself.

* * *

Fred tried to hold the kicking Hermione with all strength he could afford. She was hitting his chest with her fists, her face a terrified mask of panic, fear and desperation. She seemed to be fighting not him, but something that lurked above her. It was as if something made her kick him. He didn't know what and it didn't matter anyways, for she suddenly went motionless in his grip, almost falling to the ground if he hadn't held her. He stared down at her; her hands were still on his chest, her head rested on her shoulder in a most unusual angle, her eyes were open yet he could only see the white in it. He frowned, holding her closely to his chest.

Whatever happened to her in this forest, he didn't like it and he surely didn't like to discover what it was. He took one hand from her back and gently touched her cheek in order to wake her. She winced a bit but didn't move. Her head fell from one side to the other; her eyes were finally closed. He sighed in relief – for the sight of only the white of her eyes made him in this surroundings way too uneasy.

He watched her for a while. Her face was pale, almost white and mostly looking not quite healthy; her dark lashes standing in a total contrast to the rest of her skin. Her lips would have been full and pretty, yet there were small cuts on her cheeks and chin that gave her the look of a mistreated puppet. Her brown hair was not only bushy but kind of dishevelled, small twigs and thorns were caught in it.

He tried to pull them out of it when Hermione suddenly started to move in his grip. He watched her open her eyes that slowly looked around before sleepily stared into his. She winced in his grip as if shocked into whose eyes she was looking. She seemed to recover very quickly, though.

He threw her a weak smile. She tried to do the same before her eyes quickly looked away. He knew what might happen now. It was the same look on her face when she first ran from the Burrow. But now he wouldn't let it happen. Finding her in this forest was way more difficult than it was in the small one next to the Burrow. So he held her tighter and she – to his surprise – didn't fight against it but leant her head against his chest and even pulled her arms around him. He could feel her shake, if from cold or from fear, he couldn't tell. He just pulled one arm around her waist, putting the other one on her neck.

"Fred?", she asked after a while, whispering against his chest.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I kicked you…"

He couldn't but grin. "I said no more apologies, remember?"

She merely smiled, casting a short look at him before returning to lean her head against him.

He then recalled their surroundings, looking around with a mixed feeling.

"Erm, Hermione?", he asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you mind if we stop that for a while and leave this bloody forest?"

She looked up at him, nodded slightly shaking and began to unfold from the embrace. He felt that she as well had difficulties in doing so. He grinned to himself, making a mental note to not tell George about this at all. He then let go of her and took a small step back. She looked around before returning to look at him.

She looked so small standing in front of him. So lost and –

He quickly kicked that thought out of his brains. There was no need to play the hero now. He wanted to leave this forest behind as badly as she wanted. Though he didn't want to admit it. But he was at least as much afraid of the dark (above all of dark forests) as she was of heights. So he apparently would have been the perfect hero.

Rolling his eyes, he took her hand and led her back to where he imagined the clearing where he had left the broom and the trunk.

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**_A/N:_ Please review! I'd like to know what you guys think… and I'd like to know what you like me to write next _xGGx_ yeah, reader's choice now… I got many ideas myself but maybe you want to see something else? So, tell me and I might make your dreams come true… thanks again for reading!**


	7. Girl gone mental

**A/N:** There you go... I updated... you know why? Because of you guys! I was so shocked when the stats said "**14 reviews**" oO that was so.. wow... THANK YOU SO MUCH! (Thanks to **Niniel23 **(Whoa... my story... a bedtime story! that's soo cool -gg- hope you had a great night!), **Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiobie**, **WasthataLION** (whoa, 6 reviews from you... thank you so much! where to start? About your guess that Draco or Lucius are plotting these events... well, I first thought about that, yeah I really wanted to make Draco do so... but I decided against it... because it's tough enough to focus on characters such as Fred, Hermione, George and so one... so, sorry but there will be no Malfoy in this story... and on: I already read Just A Harmless Joke and I just loved that story... that was so amazing... so again thank you so much for your reviews, I'm so happy right now that people actually like what I'm writing... hihi...), **HiddenOperaAngel** (Yeah, poor Hermione -gg- but she will be going through even worse things I promise), **So this is love** (I tried to put your thoughts into the story... well, I will be writing about that more intense, well anyways: Thank you... so great to hear you like it!) and thanks to **moony2002 **(here's the update... hehe))

I also thank everyone who actually read this story... I'm so glad you guys like it... -smile-

So here is the next chapter... I actually wrote a very long one and thought about posting it just like it was.. but I decided against it and split it up into two chapters... so here go chapter 7 and chapter 8... enjoy! (**You know that I don't own Harry Potter right? Yeah I do NOT, just a shame but anyways...** )

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_Chapter 7: Girl gone mental_

They had found the clearing soon after and decided to just fly up to the treetops instead of walking out of the forest again for they didn't want to experience what they (and especially Hermione) had gone through before. So Fred mounted the broom, Hermione sitting silently in front of him, still as if in trance and seemingly far away. He pulled one arm around her, afraid that she might fall over – for he kind of knew that she didn't have the strength to hold onto the broom all by herself; she was still as pale as Death.

He then kicked off the ground, the trunk hovering underneath him. Pulling the broom in an almost vertical position, he shot into the air, heading to the far and nearly invisible end of the dark treetops. It seemed that they flew up quite a long time before the broom finally reached the very top of the forest. Twigs were scratching against their clothes, almost making the trunk fall down to the ground – when Fred hadn't amplified the spell on it so it merely bounced off when a twig tried to grab it.

They finally broke through the surface of treetops, flying into a rather dark yet seemingly nicer sky. Hermione was still silent in front of him, the hand (that kept her body from sinking elsewhere) feeling her heart pound rather slowly. She seemed to calm down, her eyes closed and her breath straightening again. He sighed in relief, directing the broom towards the Burrow. Feeling the cold night wind caress his skin, he made a mental note on never stepping into a dark forest again!

* * *

Hermione felt as if hovering above the ground, not able to fly away, not able to fall down either. She couldn't move. Her heart pounded in her ears, her head seemed to be bursting any second. She knew opening her eyes meant to go onto an even faster ride that would never end, making her turn and flip and fall and fly at the same time. She just felt that there was something inside that wanted to go out, that wanted to run, that wanted to – 

Before she knew it she hit ground again, her feet stumbling, her body coming to a stuttering hold. She felt as if she was jerked to the ground, falling sideways onto something wet. She felt grass between her fingers and then there were hands that lifted her up. She heard a voice talk to her yet she couldn't understand a single word. She tried to open her eyes but they seemed to be sewed together – just like her lips for she wanted to speak out how she felt (but no words came out) and tell anyone who was around that she really had to –

Her wish came true and she felt her body itching and twisting before she vomited right onto the doorstep of the Burrow.

* * *

Fred took a deep breath when he knelt down next to the vomiting Hermione, trying to help her by holding her hair and by patting her back softly. He must have felt miserable and he was glad that she didn't spit out her guts when they were flying. She was coughing badly as if choking up fur balls. He still patted her back when the front door opened, making Fred almost jump. He then looked around to see – 

"George", he whispered, nodding to Hermione. "Will you help me, bro?"

George threw a rather disgusted look at what Hermione did on their doorstep before he shook his head and bent down to help his twin to pull Hermione up again.

"I assume she was impressed by your flying skills", George said, grinning, looking from the small, still coughing girl to the broom next to them.

Fred just gave him a short stare, joisting Hermione against his chest to keep her in a standing position. She looked even paler now, turning slightly green around the nose. He felt so sorry for her. She stopped coughing, breathing hard. Her hands wandered seemingly unknowing across his body, finally gripping his shirt tightly. He frowned at the sight of this, yet pulling one arm around her before touching her face gently.

She winced but soon opened her eyes to stare right into Fred's.

He smiled at her. "Hey", he said.

She continued staring at him, suddenly realizing how she clutched his clothes. Yet she didn't do anything against it. She wanted to open her mouth but he interrupted her.

"You feel better?", he asked, looking at her. "Let's go inside then, shall we? It's getting cold and I think some sleep might be good after –", he paused. "After what we… after what happened, right?"

He waited for some response from her side but she just locked eyes with him. He could see something spark inside her hazel ones but as soon as it had appeared it was gone again. He then turned to enter the house, realizing that George was still standing in the door, looking at them. Behind him Fred could see some movement.

* * *

Hermione still felt as if she was dreaming a very bad dream, yet she knew she was awake. She leaned against Fred's chest, feeling his heart beat against it. She saw George standing next to them and suddenly there were two girls; a tall black girl with a concerned look on her pretty face and an even taller girl with long brown hair and a furrowed forehead. They were all staring at Hermione as if she just said something very stupid. Which she didn't… she at least thought. To be certain she couldn't remember anything except the throbbing pain in her head. 

She looked around in confusion, feeling that Fred pulled her inside the house. She then was sitting on the Weasley's kitchen table, Fred beside her, George and the two girls opposite them. The next moment someone was lying her down onto the couch by the fire that felt warm and caressing. She stared at the person, taking in blue eyes and a rather concerned look on a really handsome face. She suddenly felt the urge to reach up and touch these high and lean cheekbones when she unexpectedly felt any kind of power leave her body.

She felt like a balloon being hit by a cactus. All air seemed to rush out of her and she felt as if her head was about to explode. The room was getting darker with every second. She heard someone tell her to get some rest and then there was silence. But before she could pass out for once she heard another voice laughing evilly, telling her that she was stupid and worthless. Then a face popped up in the darkness. It was the face of one of the girls she had seen before.

* * *

"Is she alright?", asked a rather pale looking Alicia Spinnet when Fred returned to sit at the kitchen table. 

"I hope so", he replied, sounding exhausted.

"What happened anyways?", Angelina Johnson, sitting next to Alicia, asked, looking concerned.

"Long story…", Fred told her with a yawn.

"Well, we have time, bro", George pointed out. "Tell us. You're acting strange lately…"

"Really?", Fred asked, frowning.

"Yeah, you're putting your nose way too deep in someone else's business."

"If you mean Hermione", Fred replied, staring at his brother. "Actually _she_'s acting strange lately and I'm just concerned. And I think that she really needs someone to put their nose in her business!"

"Why is she here at all?", Alicia asked, looking around at George and Fred.

"Let's say she popped out of her parents' house –"

"Because?", George asked, looking unnerved to pull every single word out of his brother's freckled nose.

"Because she… had a bad argument with her parents and –"

"What happened to her arm? I saw dried blood on the sleeve of her jumper", Angelina pointed out, frowning.

"She –", Fred began before stopping himself. "Guys, ask me later. I'm tired!"

He then stood up, turning to look into the living room where Hermione was supposed to lie. He took some steps forward only to see that she was _not_ lying on the couch anymore. He looked around in shock – to see her standing in the shadows next to wall.

"Oh my -, Hermione, you scared me!", he said, walking towards her.

He then noticed a rather strange look on her face that made the hairs of his neck stand up in horror.

* * *

Hermione leaned against the wall, hidden in the shadows. She couldn't remember standing up from the couch but it didn't matter anyway. The only thing she could see were the two girls staring at her in shock. This shock quickly turned into something else. Something she hadn't expected. They suddenly grinned at her, not in the funny way, but rather evil and grim looking. Their faces became horrid masks of purely evil, their eyes turning to black holes. Hermione felt her heart sink. Her breath got stuck in her throat. She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight these terrible things that were in front of her eyes. 

But she merely stood there (wherever it was) and watched these horrid masks come closer, sweeping nearer in front of her. Laughter were ringing in her ears; voices of disapproval hitting her head. She felt herself collapsing against the wall, unable to stand. Before she could, however, fall to the ground, a wave of determination hit her body. The next thing she remembered was running from the spot she stood – heading towards the girls. She heard someone scream and others yell and then she saw some frightened brown eyes in a pretty yet concerned black face.

* * *

Fred thought he might be dreaming, dreaming a most disturbing dream. He watched Hermione move towards Angelina and suddenly the both of them were lying on the ground, Angelina screaming in shock and pain, Hermione's hands around her throat. George leapt forwards to keep Hermione from killing Angelina; Alicia knelt down to help Angelina fight against the girl gone mental. Unable to help at all, Fred just stood there, staring down at the scene. Before he knew it, Hermione let go of Angelina and focused on her next victim. 

Him.

At the same time as George helped Angelina stand up again and Alicia patting her back gently, Hermione walked towards Fred, suddenly hitting him hard in the chest. What the hell was going on? What was wrong with Hermione? Has she just gone mental or had she actually a reason to do like she did?

He backed up, covering his chest to prevent her from hitting him again. She then stopped in the middle of another punch aiming at his head, staring at him out of confused eyes. He frowned in shock, watching her closely. She suddenly seemed to have transformed into the old Hermione again, her face pale, her lips trembling, her eyes focused on him. There was no strange look and no angry spark inside her eyes anymore.

She tumbled slightly, still locking eyes with him. She then opened her mouth and Fred had difficulties in understanding what she said, but as soon as the words left her mouth, a jerk went through her body and she fell to the ground.

"Something's happening to me…", he recalled what she had said, a cold shiver running down his spine.

He then knelt down, only to feel her hands around his throat now. There was this strange look again along with the angry spark in her hazel eyes. He grabbed her hands, trying to pull them away from him. She suddenly leapt forwards, pinning him to the ground. With Hermione sitting on top of him, he threw a shocked look at his twin and the two girls, who stared at him with both fear and confusion. George was the first to break free from their silent stare.

He then grabbed Hermione's shoulders, trying to pull her back, but her hands now held Fred's throat with an amount of strength that no one had thought would slumber inside this small girl. She squeezed Fred's throat, making him gasp in shock, coughing heavily. George finally managed to pull her away from his twin, Angelina and Alicia trying to help as well (yet Angelina was still shaking because of her own being attacked by Hermione). They soon made Hermione sit down on of the kitchen chairs, George holding her hands firmly together. As soon as she had been pulled away from Fred, she seemed to have lost all her remaining strength, apparently shrinking into an even smaller form than she had been before her transforming into someone else.

Fred got up weakly, rubbing his throat, still looking pale. He threw a look at Hermione, unable to feel either sorry or angry for her. What happened to her? Why was she attacking first Angelina and then him, Fred? As soon as he was on his feet again, Angelina walked towards him, looking really frightened. George and Alicia still watched Hermione with cautious eyes.

"You alright, Fred?", Angelina asked, touching his arm gently. "What is wrong with that girl!", she added, rather angry, nodding to Hermione.

"I'm fine. And she –", he began, before a shriek echoed through the kitchen.

Hermione was on her feet again, her eyes something like a dancing fire in the dimly lit room. George tried to grab her again but she merely bounced off his touch, running straight towards the stairs. Alicia and Angelina's eyes followed her, their foreheads furrowed. Fred was the first to move.

"Where are you going?", George called after him, but Fred had just finished half the steps. "Leave her, she's better on her own!"

With his twin running after Hermione, George turned to their guests, looking sorry. Alicia patted his arm; Angelina sat down on a kitchen chair.

"What is it with her?", Angelina muttered.

George shrugged. "I have no idea…"

"Maybe she was kind of… jealous…", Alicia said weakly.

"Jealous!", both George and Angelina replied, rather taken aback.

"Why's that?"

"Well she attacked Angelina first, right? Whatever lurks on her mind, seemed to be certain about who she attacked. And…er… well, maybe she didn't want to share Fred with you to be clear", Alicia added to Angelina.

"But we are just friends, there's no reason to be jealous!"

"Tell _her_", George said, sitting down as well. "But… maybe Alicia's right. She has been acting strange since she arrived and Fred almost did the same. There's definitely something wrong with them…"

"I wonder what that might be", they heard a voice from the stairs.

They all turned to look at Fred who stood rather pale on the last steps, slowly walking downstairs. They exchanged gazes and shifted nervously on their seats.

"Well?"

"Oh come, Fred", George was the first to speak. "You know bloody well what we mean!"

"Well, tell me, I'm not that bright, you know?", Fred replied, seemingly annoyed. "But you don't seem to be either for you think that I might overhear what you're saying behind my back!"

"Calm down, Fred! We didn't say anything!", Angelina pointed out, looking confused.

"Are you already imagining things –", George began.

"Like Hermione you mean?", Fred ended.

George, Alicia and Angelina exchanged gazes again.

"Well, yeah", George said, shrugging. "But you have to admit that she is acting weird!"

"So what?"

"So _what_!", George blurted out. "Excuse _me_? She just attacked first Angelina and then you, idiot!"

"So?"

"_SO_!", George yelled, standing up, staring at his twin as if he was following Hermione into the land of the mental people. "What are you! Blind? Deaf? Stupid? She almost killed you! And you're still protecting her!"

Fred just stared at his brother, his lips a narrow line in his pale face. He then turned away, heading towards the stairs again.

"Where are you going? Meeting your mental friend?", George yelled after him.

It was Fred's turn to yell but he didn't even turn around as he pulled out his wand and muttered something under his breath. His fingers clasped the wand tightly, but he didn't point it at anything. Shaking his head, he finally turned around to meet his brother's gaze, his wand still clutched in his hand.

If looks could kill, he would have been the only twin left in this house.

"I can go wherever I want, alright?", Fred began in an ice cold voice. "Meeting whoever I want to meet." He paused, staring at his twin. "And remember: don't call me idiot", he said, turning around. "Idiot!"

He then climbed up the stairs and was out of sight again.

"What was this all about!", Alicia muttered, looking rather confused at Angelina, who just shrugged.

George stood next to them, still staring at the spot where Fred had left. He was as pale as everyone else, yet his ears had the colour of deepest crimson. His fists were twitching at the sides of his body.

"George?", Alicia asked, stepping next to him. "I… we think we'd better leave now… is it –"

"Alright", he muttered, not looking at them.

The both girls turned to leave through the kitchen door when George broke free from his silent stare.

"Wait, I'll bring you. I don't want to be in the same house with that prat…"

So they left the Burrow, hoping to forget what they had just witnessed.


	8. The other half

**A/N: So here we go again... the next part... read on!**_

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_Chapter 8: The other half_

At the same time as George decided to leave the house, Fred entered Ginny's bedroom, hoping to find Hermione in it. He had lost her the first time he had been running after her; the conversation that his twin had with the two girls seemed to be more interesting. He didn't know why he was so angry with his twin. He was slightly annoyed when he had heard them talk about him and Hermione yet he hadn't planned on arguing about that with his twin. But something made him do so and before he had known it he had been acting like a total –

"Idiot", he muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Just forget it!"

He then turned to enter Ginny's room – only to find it empty.

A sudden movement, followed by a deafening noise from upstairs, made him jump. He turned around, looking up at where the noise had come from. He slowly began to climb up the stairs - to see the door to the attic squeaking in its frame.

He heard some rumbling from within the room where the ghoul used to hide and annoy the Weasleys time after time. Now, however, Fred almost knew for sure that the ghoul did _not_ make this noise. He entered the attic, seeing things like old chairs, books and picture frames fly around (the people in the pictures yelled and screamed every time their painting hit the ground or another object).

Pulling out his wand to save himself from flying stuff, he walked to the middle of the room, finally discovering Hermione behind some old bookshelves, throwing all the things she could get into her hands through the room. Fred aimed at her, but before he could mutter a spell to calm her down, she was suddenly standing in front of him, making him jump.

He stared down at her with his mouth open; she, however, looked up at him highly amused.

"Hermione", he began, swallowing down any strange feeling.

"Fred", she replied in an awkward kind of voice, much too deep for a girl like her.

He frowned. "What –"

"Don't you ever mention it, Fred Weasley", she said, stepping closer to him. "I just don't want to talk about it right now…"

Her voice hurt in his head. Suddenly her hands were on his chest, sliding slowly down to his waist. He watched her with big eyes.

"Er, Hermione… what –"

"Shh!", she replied, touching his cheekbone with her index finger.

He stared at her. But before she could "seduce" him, he grabbed her hands, pulling her away from him.

"Stop it, Hermione, you're not yourself!"

She watched him, moving her lips a bit. He could only hear something like "well spotted". She then grinned in a really strange way, turning her back to him.

"What's wrong with you?", Fred finally found his own voice again. "Why are acting that strange? What happened down there? Why did you –"

"Stop asking these silly questions!", Hermione yelled, turning around again. Fred could see tears in her eyes.

"But I just want to know why –"

"I DON'T KNOW!", she yelled even louder, her lips trembling. She looked paler now, the awkward grin disappearing from her face immediately. "I don't know… I –"

She suddenly sank to her knees, falling to the dusty ground.

Fred watched her, concern rising again.

She was muttering something under her breath. He first listened more closely when he heard her call his name. He bent down to her, trying to understand what she said.

"- make me do so –", she whispered. "- can't control –", he heard her say. "- don't know …Fred … plot … help… I –"

"What? Hermione, tell me again", he said puzzled, bending nearer.

"I said HELP ME!", she almost yelled into his ear.

He jumped back to his feet at the sound of her voice, staring down at her in shock, as she looked up to him in total panic. He didn't know what to do. Before he could think about a kind of reaction, she suddenly started coughing, curling herself up on the ground. As soon as it had begun, it was over again and she lay motionless at his feet.

He knelt beside her, touching her shoulder gently.

"Hermione!"

He then heard her cry almost silently.

* * *

The fog in front of Hermione's eyes finally vanished and she realized she lay on a rather dusty ground. She couldn't remember how she got here and what had happened to her. She just felt kind of shaky. Feeling as if something let go of her body, as if something let her be herself again, she almost forgot about the fact that she was crying. Tears were streaming down her cheeks effortlessly. She turned around, lying on her back now, staring at old roof beams.

When she turned to look sideways, she saw red hair beside her.

Panting as if she had been running, she tried to sit up, still feeling rather trembling. She turned her head around to see Fred staring at her, looking pale and really shocked. She wanted to ask him what happened, but he was the first to speak.

"You're back?", he merely asked, looking at her, his eyes as dark as the room they were in.

She just stared at him for a second before something crept to her mind again.

Her own voice called through the confused mess inside her head. "_HELP ME_!"

She gasped, covering her face in her hands.

"What happened?", she finally managed to say.

"Weird stuff", he replied. "Don't you remember?"

She lowered her hands, looking at him.

"No… there's nothing … just…"

"Just what?"

"Just a weird feeling", she said. "Fred, what have I done?"

He sighed, rubbing his throat absentmindedly. "Forget it…"

"No, please tell me…"

And he told her.

She couldn't help but stare at him. She felt stupid again, very stupid. How could she attack Angelina Johnson? How could she actually strangle Fred? What was she thinking? She then realized that she couldn't remember anything after what had happened in the forest. She now was sure that this forest had something to do with her strange behaviour. She had to find out what it was. She –

"Oh Fred, I'm –", she began, but the words stuck inside her throat.

She watched him standing up.

"Are you… are you mad at me?"

He looked at her, his face a motionless mask. "No", he then said, turning away.

"But –"

"It's not your fault", he interrupted her.

"It's… not!", she asked puzzled.

"No", he said. "There's something going absolutely wrong here…"

She tried to stand up. "How can you tell?"

"How I can tell!", he turned to her, grinning weakly. "Just look at yourself!" Before Hermione could ask what he meant, he added: "I don't think these wounds of yours are coincidence."

She still stared at him, not understanding a word he was saying.

"You said something about a plot when you were… let's say … acting weird", he began, leaning against the closest windowsill. "But let's start at the beginning… these wounds –", he pointed at her left arm. "You would have never done that to yourself, would you? Honestly!" She watched him, confused. "You are not the type of girl hurting themselves. You have a really healthy nature, you know how to compensate aggression and fear and stress and desperation. You might hide behind your books, you might punch someone for being mean to you, you might cry, but you certainly might not hurt yourself! Whatever happened, you would have found another way of dealing with it."

And she remembered the razor blades lying on her nightstand, how they almost forced her to touch them and how they wouldn't let her stop cutting. He was right. She just wasn't the type. She didn't want to cut herself.

"But these wounds are just one piece of a much bigger puzzle", he continued. "Do you remember when they began to bleed again, when we were flying back to the Burrow? With your wounds bleeding, we had to go down – exactly in front of this dark forest. That was no coincidence. It seemed as if it was destined to happen, you know? Something – or someone – made us act like this. With you running into the forest and me following you –"

"But I can't remember running into the forest", Hermione pointed out.

"That's it! Another proof for my theory that someone is plotting something!"

"But –"

"Who? And why? Well, I didn't figure that one out yet, but we'll have to find out…"

"And what about what happened tonight?"

He turned his head to look out of the dusty window into the night. "Maybe you just… overreacted a bit", he said quietly.

"What do you mean, overreacted?"

"I mean you were still confused and terrified by what happened in the forest so everything you felt was way too intense", he said, not looking at her.

"Intense? Like… I felt something and lived it out in an exaggerated way?"

"Yeah", he replied. "Like you felt a bit …"

"What?"

"Jealous…"

"Jealous!", she repeated, feeling her cheeks burn. "What do you mean?"

"You attacked Angelina, why would you do that?"

"I … I don't know… I wouldn't attack her in the first place because I don't know her that much and –"

"Right, you guys don't hang around each other a lot. But you saw her in the Burrow and –"

"And what!"

He sighed. This was getting really nasty. "And you know that I do. I hang around her a lot, I was at the Yule Ball with her. So –"

"What! Do you really think I would be jealous because you –" Hermione stared at him. He wasn't joking. She swallowed. This was really getting nasty now. "Wait a second", she began again. "You think that I am jealous because she hangs around you a lot and that's why I attacked her in the first place!"

"Yes", he merely said.

"So why would I have attacked _you_ then?"

"Because you were mad at me?"

"Why would I –"

"Just because."

"I wouldn't have a reason", she whispered.

"You would."

"What?"

"Well, let's shorten this a bit. After what happened in the forest and elsewhere, you thought I would be interested in you more than I used to be. Well, I helped you, so now you saw Angelina in this very house and thought I might… deceive you or something…"

Hermione stared at him.

"Are you serious!", she blurted out.

"Tell me if I'm wrong", he replied, still not looking at her.

She opened her mouth but couldn't respond.

He then pushed back from the windowsill, walking towards the door.

"Fred, wait", she said quietly. "What- whatever my reasons may be, you said there is something… someone… plotting this… so it's not entirely my fault, isn't it?"

"I never said this is your fault", he said, talking to the door.

"So… erm… Fred, listen, I am sorry whatever I've done to you, to Angelina, to George, to everyone around. I… I don't know what I'm doing… I can't remember anything and I seem to have no control about anything anymore… I'm losing it, now don't I? Maybe you are wrong and it is just me doing these things… maybe I'm turning crazy…"

Her voice echoed through the attic. Her lips were trembling and her hands were shaking badly. She stared at the back of Fred's head, feeling so stupid. He then slowly turned around to look at her.

"So if you turn crazy, why would you do that?"

"Be-because … I don't know… because maybe someone wants me to be crazy –?"

"There you have it!", he said with a soft smile. "I doubt the fact that you want to be crazy, right? Someone's making you…"

"Someone's plotting it…", she whispered, more to herself.

"And we'll find out who and why", he said, taking some steps towards her. "But not today." A yawn let his face twitch. "You'd better get some rest."

"I try", she replied, trying to smile at him, even if she didn't feel able to do so.

He nodded and turned around again.

"Fred?"

"Hm?"

"I'm really sorry for –"

He suddenly turned to put one finger on her lips. "What did I say?", he asked grinning.

She wanted to reply but he just nodded, removing his finger from her lips to touch her cheek.

"Exactly, no more apologies!"

Winking, he finally left the attic, letting her alone in the dark room. Smiling slightly.

* * *

Fred didn't feel like sleeping even if he was tired to the bone. He decided on eating something before he went to bed. Heading downstairs, he saw a long shadow dancing in the light of a candle. He slowly moved closer to its origin – to see George pacing through the kitchen.

His twin suddenly stopped and just stared at Fred.

"George", he began.

"That's my name."

"Sorry for calling you idiot, mate."

"Yeah, me too."

"Even?", Fred asked, approaching his brother slowly.

"I guess…", George said, looking down. "Sorry for yelling at you."

"Sorry for arguing at all…"

"Alright, we're even…", George said, rolling his eyes. "Before this goes on all night long…"

Fred grinned back at his twin, sitting down at the kitchen table. George did the same.

"So, do you want to tell me something?", George asked.

"What about?"

"A girl with bushy hair?"

"Don't start that now…"

"But I'm nosy."

"I know…"

"So will you tell me something about the way you feel for her?"

"Is there a way at all?", Fred asked, frowning.

"Well, me as your twin thinks there is. Remember, I feel what you feel?"

"I think that changed in the last years, didn't it?"

"Well, it's nevertheless obvious what you feel…"

"Is it?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"I hate it when you're doing that!"

"I know", Fred said, laughing. "And I love it when you are annoyed of me…"

"You better hope I won't jinx you now I'm allowed to…"

"That didn't stop you the years before…"

"Oh, right, well, anyways… come on, bro, share your thoughts with your twin! I find out anyways so it's easier to just tell me, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

"Oh goddamnit, I'm going to bed!"

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you think!  
I now make a promise that I will write a chapter per day so you guys have something to read each day -gg- **


	9. A dream within a dream

**A/N: Another day, another chapter... this is part 9... and it's rather short if you ask me... I'm sorry... couldn't make it longer though... well, just read it and enjoy... hope you like it... it was something that I wanted to write about but I didn't want it to come off too cheesy or so... so... well, just read... you'll know what I mean! -gg-  
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_Chapter 9: A dream within a dream_

Hermione couldn't remember how she managed to get into Ginny's room yet it was not because of something directing her; it was because she was tired and exhausted. She almost fell in the cushions of her bed, leaving the waking world nearly immediately. Her sleep was short and painful.

She dreamt about most frightening things such as dark forests, screaming voices, evil grinning faces, words of disapproval, squeezing someone's throat, yelling and crying. First she felt as if she was falling into a bottomless pit, then she suddenly flew through the air and landed on the top of dead trees – with Fred standing next to her on the treetops.

Her dream-self walked over to him, realizing that the ground had changed again so they stood on a dark clearing. She looked around in confusion before she felt his hand grabbing hers. She felt the warmth of his touch, warming up immediately. He led her through the forest and out onto a moonlit field. She couldn't see much – just him standing in front of her.

She met his gaze and saw his smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him. She felt so secure in his presence. He then pulled her closer to him, putting one hand on her waist, the other one touching her face gently. His face was so handsome she just stared at him, counting the freckles on his nose, scanning his blue eyes and his lean face structure. Why did she never notice this before? How could she live so many years beside such a gorgeous young man? She continued staring when he leant forwards so that their faces were only inches away.

She almost sank into his deep blue eyes, feeling rather shaky. He smiled at her, his nose almost touching hers. He leant in even closer but before she could feel his lips touching hers, his eyes turned a deep shade of crimson and his head was jerked back by an invisible force. Suddenly his eyes started bleeding and his mouth opened to scream but no sound came out. She watched in shock as he tumbled backwards, suddenly falling through a great gap in the ground.

"FRED!", she heard herself scream in panic.

She ran towards the gap but when she reached it, it was gone again and she stood alone on the dark field. Her heart seemed to burst and her insides were crashing. She felt as if something tore her into pieces. She tumbled backwards, almost tripping over something. She turned around to look at it, still blinded and shocked by what she had seen before, when a rather pale face stared at her.

It seemed to hover in mid-air, just a face without a body. There were black eyes and dark brows and a thin line as mouth. She didn't recognize the face but she felt as if she had seen it before. It felt terrifyingly familiar. She suddenly wanted to leap forwards and touch the face but before she could reach it, it vanished into black fog. She stared into the night, her heart still hammering against her chest.

All of a sudden the earth broke up underneath her feet and she was falling into an endless hole, darkness squeezing her. The world turned upside-down and before she knew it, she fell out of the bed in Ginny's room, hitting the carpet hard.

Lying on her back, panting as if she had been running, she stared at the ceiling. Tears were streaming down her cheeks effortlessly; she didn't even realize she was crying before her face was all wet. She remembered the dream that threw her out of the bed. For every disturbing detail it was Fred's bleeding face that kept coming back. She closed her eyes, trying to push the image away but she could even see it with her eyes closed.

These crimson eyes, the blood drops streaming out of them down these lean cheeks.

Feeling the urge to run, she suddenly was on her feet, leaving Ginny's room to run up the stairs to the room of the twins. It was still dark inside the house yet she knew it must have been morning already. She ran upstairs without making a single sound. When she reached the door to the twin's room, she carefully pushed the handle down and opened the door. She slowly entered the room that was smelling a bit like burned socks and grass and – lemon.

She just stood in the room, seeing both beds occupied. There were two kinds of snoring echoing through the room. She looked around to tell which twin lay in which bed and she was glad to find a sweater with a big F on it hanging on one of the bedsteads. She quietly moved towards the bed on the left of the room and knelt down next to it, watching the red-haired boy sleeping peacefully. There was no blood on his face and his eyes were definitely not bleeding.

She sighed in relief, watching Fred's chest move up and down silently. She soon found herself staring at him and she almost had to slap herself before she could stand up again. But before she could leave the room, however, a voice addressed her.

"Hermione!"

She turned around in shock, seeing that Fred was awake, sitting in his bed.

"What are you doing here?", he whispered drowsily, trying not to wake the still sleeping George.

"Erm, I… I…", she muttered, trying to ignore how cute he looked with his hair pointing in every direction. "Sorry, wrong room!", she then said and left the room again, feeling her cheeks burn heavily.

Once she closed the door behind her, she kicked herself, not just mentally but physically by kicking one foot against the opposite wall. Pain soon crawled up her leg but she ignored it. What was she thinking, entering the twin's room in the middle of the night! She leaned against the wall next to the door to the room she just stalked into, shaking her head in disbelief. Stupid. Just –

She almost jumped when she heard the door next to her open quietly. She turned around to see Fred standing there, his hair still messy, wearing only a shirt and boxers. Her eyes widened and she just wanted to run away, but before she could even make one step, she felt his hand on her arm.

"Hey, what's wrong?", he asked, rubbing his eyes with the other hand.

She just stared at him.

"You okay?", he went on, noticing her shocked expression, removing his hand to shove his hair out of his forehead.

She nodded quickly, moving uneasy.

"What were you doing in our room, anyways?"

"Erm…", she tried to say but her mouth felt so dry. "I…well, I had a dream and… I just… I just wanted to make sure that… erm…"

He threw her a puzzled look, but soon he was just grinning at her.

"Don't laugh at me", she whispered, staring at him a bit hurt.

"I'll never laugh _at_ you, I'm always laughing _with_ you!", he replied and his grin was infectious. She shook her head, smiling, covering her face with her hands.

"I feel so stupid", she muttered.

"Why?"

"Why?", she asked, lowering her hands. "Because I just… stalked you…"

He laughed. "You stalked me? Well, alright, there are not many girls that come into my room to just watch me", he added, grinning. "But it's nevertheless interesting…"

Hermione felt herself blushing, her skin burning.

"So why did you stalk me?", he asked.

"Well, I had a dream… about… erm… something weird and I just wanted to check that you… that you're okay… so I… well, something made me come upstairs…"

"Of course", he said. "It isn't that annoying at all to stand under someone's influence, so, is it? Always a good excuse…"

She stared at him, now feeling as if her skin would crack and peal under the heat she felt.

"I'm going to remember that one…", he then said, laughing.

"So… erm… you are not mad at me for waking you up or so?"

"Nope", he said, leaning against the doorframe.

"That's… great to hear…", she muttered, throwing him a shy look. "Well, I think I… better go now… I… erm… we all need our sleep, right?"

He nodded, grinning. "Go ahead then."

She began to move but then stopped again, turning to him.

"Yeah?", he asked before she could say anything.

"Well, you know what?", she said in a challenging voice, a grin spreading on her face. "I am really, really –"

"Don't say it!", he hissed, laughing, taking one step towards her.

"But I am and I'm going to say that I am really –"

"No you won't!", he said, trying to grab her.

She let out a screech when he pulled his arms around her, lifting her up from the ground. He heard her laughter ringing in his ears. He pulled her into a bone-breaking hug, laughing along with her. This felt great. He turned her around so that she could face him. They locked eyes, their faces only inches away. He still held her, her feet dangling in the air. She suddenly stopped laughing, staring at him breathlessly.

He studied her face, such a pretty one with her high cheekbones, her long lashes and these deep hazel eyes. Her pale skin shimmering in the dark. Her long bushy hair almost covering her face. He hugged her with one arm, shoving her hair softly out of her eyes with his free hand. She stared at him, her eyes sparkling demanding. He couldn't help but lean forward, his nose touching hers gently. He then turned his head a bit and moved even closer. When his lips touched hers softly, he closed his eyes and felt how she kissed him back.

He hugged her closer, kissing her passionately – when suddenly he didn't feel her warm skin anymore – but the rough surface of a pillow. He jerked his eyes open, realizing that he was lying in his bed, panting as if he had been running. He looked around in confusion – only to see another pillow flying towards him. He caught it just in time, lowering it and staring at George, who half sat in his bed, staring back at him.

"Stop laughing in your dreams", he merely said, lying back down. "It's almost as annoying as you snogging your pillow!"

Fred's eyes widened. He gasped. 'What the –', he thought, remembering the dream he had. Dream… it had felt so real… so intense… yet… Shaking his head, he lay back down, staring at the ceiling. What was happening to him?

With his confusion growing, he fell asleep again, not knowing that some rooms beneath him, Hermione lay awake as well, her head spinning in high speed just as his.

* * *

**A/N: Well, how was that? Tell me! Your reviews decide about the future of this fanfic -lol- well, anyways, I will write on tomorrow for there it comes... the weekend... I love weekends... so make sure you share your time for you might get to read some more of Fred & Hermione -fg-  
Thanks for reading! I'd love to see you review...**  



	10. Coping with consequences

**A/N: First of all I want to thank (what! I really get an Oscar! whoa... nope? well... too bad but nevertheless..), thank you to **_MoonFey_**for remembering me that Fred of course is a beater not a chaser (I already edited chapter two!) and thank you again to **_Niniel23_**, I'm kind of overwhelmed by what you wrote... one of the best F/Hr FanFics you've read? Whoa... that is... -bows- THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm really doing my best to keep you guys entertained and in a good mood -gg- I love this ship so much... I hope to not screw it all up... -crosses fingers- so please stay tuned... here is chapter 10! Enjoy!**

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_Chapter 10: Coping with consequences_

The night passed by rather quickly, and with the sun illuminating her bedroom, Hermione woke up, feeling highly awake as if she had had the most delightful dreams. She couldn't remember what it was, but it had felt strange and wonderful at the same time. A bit confused, she got up from her bed, leaving the room to head to the bathroom. When she saw a shadow coming downstairs, her heart missed a beat.

But when the red head came into view, she sighed in relief.

"Morning, George", she said, smiling at him.

He met her gaze, puzzled first, before he replied her smile. "'Morning", he said. "You feel better?", he added, watching her.

She stared at him, suddenly remembering last night. She swallowed uneasy and bit her lip. "Erm, yeah, I think… I…", she muttered and turned to look away. "I'm really sorry what happened yesterday… would you… do you mind telling… Angelina that I'm sorry?"

"Tell her yourself", he replied. "She's visiting us again today, with Alicia."

"She is?", Hermione blurted out, looking at him. "Well, yeah, I will tell her… even if I don't know if she –"

George just winked at her. "Forget it, she'll forgive you!" With that he went past her, heading downstairs to the kitchen.

She stared after him, sighing. She then entered the bathroom and took a long and purifying shower. After that she wrapped a towel around her body and shook last water drops out of her long hair that now covered her shoulders – with no curl or bushy hank left. She liked it this way yet she knew that it – as soon as it dried – would stand up in every direction and would be uncontrollable again. Checking her pale face in the mirror, she felt something rise inside her. A rather… fine feeling she hadn't experienced since a long time.

With that she left the bathroom, quickly running along the corridor with just the towel around her body. Before she could enter Ginny's bedroom to pull on some clothes, another red hair headed downstairs, catching a long look at her back.

* * *

Fred's sleep had been short and confusing. The remaining bits of his dream still rested on his mind when he headed down the stairs to catch some food for breakfast. At the same time as he had passed the first landing, he saw someone running down the corridor, only wearing a towel and long brown hair. He stared in shock, again recalling what he'd dreamt about last night. 

He had to get rid of these thoughts!

Clearing his throat when the nearly naked girl was out of sight, he continued his way heading downstairs. When he reached the kitchen, George was already sitting at the table, reading the Daily Prophet. Yawning as if he wanted to swallow his twin whole, Fred sat down opposite George.

"Hadn't had much sleep last night, hadn't we?", George asked without looking up.

"Not everyone falls asleep just by counting bludgers like you, bro", Fred replied, yawning again, helping himself to some toast and juice.

"Anyways, how was your dream?"

Fred stared at his twin. "What dream?"

"Well you were obviously dreaming when you started snogging your pillow…", George said, looking up, grinning.

Fred frowned. "I didn't snog my pillow."

"No? Well, who was it then?"

"I didn't snog anyone!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah", Fred said with finality. "Stop that now, alright?"

"But I don't want to", George said. "D'you forget our little talk the day before?"

"Yeah I already erased it from my mind, bro, and now leave it!"

But George seemed to be very stolid with that topic.

"Erased it? Really? Wonder what Hermione thinks about that", he said. "Hey, Hermione!", he suddenly added, turning towards the stairs.

Fred turned around in shock.

Hermione came down the last steps quite slowly, wearing dark jeans and a blue sweater. She looked at the twins puzzled.

"What do I think about _what_?", she asked.

Fred felt his ears turn red and he was glad his hair was still kind of messy and covered his ears.

"Nothing", he said quickly, turning his attention to his toast. "Just… erm… some jokes of us you certainly wouldn't be pleased with… but, well, anyways… are you hungry?", he added, looking up, his eyes still not meeting hers. He rather fixed on her chin.

"A bit", she replied, sitting down at the head of the table, clearly ignoring the part with the jokes she wouldn't like. She then helped herself to some juice and a pancake.

Turning to his own toast again, Fred soon sank into thoughts, before George lay down the newspaper, turning to face Fred and Hermione.

"You guys heard about that strange attack last night?"

They both stared at him.

"What attack?", Hermione asked.

"There was this Muggle taking his dog for a walk. The dog seemingly ran after a mouse or something – right into a small forest some miles from here. The Muggle ran after him but he couldn't find the dog. Nor could he find a way out of the forest again. The wife of the Muggle called the –", George looked down on the paper again before he went on. "Police and they soon found him at the edge of the forest, totally distressed. As if the forest drove him crazy… weird, I say… the Ministry now searches the forest for magical influences."

Hermione stared at George, her mouth slightly open, before she turned to look at Fred who met her gaze immediately, sharing her concern.

"Did – did the Ministry already find magical influences?", Hermione asked, turning slowly back to George.

"No, not yet. Just a normal forest, they said. Apparently the Muggle was just afraid of the dark and imagined things… there's nothing to worry about", he added, looking at the both of them with one brow raised, when both went rather pale. "What's wrong with you guys?", he asked, looking puzzled.

Hermione leapt to her feet. "I'm not hungry anymore. I think I go and take a little walk." She then left the burrow.

"What's wrong with her?", George asked Fred.

But his twin merely stood as well and followed Hermione.

"What's wrong with you?", George yelled after his brother when he was leaving the burrow too.

George then rolled his eyes and turned back to the Daily Prophet. "Mental…"

* * *

"Hermione", Fred called after her, seeing her sitting on the old bench in front of the pond next to the Burrow. 

She didn't turn to look at him – not even when he sat down next to her, following her gaze over the glittering water.

"We were not the only ones…", she then said, barely audible. "And it means… that –"

"You're not crazy, right", he finished. "Just like I said."

She slowly turned to look at him. As soon as their gazes met, she suddenly felt this fine feeling again, the one she had felt in the bathroom looking at herself. She abruptly remembered the dream she had, every disturbing and every confusing detail. She stared into these deep blue eyes in front of her, unknowingly afraid that they might turn to crimson.

Fred also remembered his dream, yet he wasn't afraid at all. He just hoped he could control himself. He didn't want to confuse her even more. He didn't even know what to think about this spark that twisted his mind. Throwing her a little smile, he then turned his head away again, feeling his ears under his hair burn.

"So what do you think is it that –", she then asked.

"You mean these things in the forest?"

"Yeah, these things that… erm… influenced us… or… to be certain… influenced me…?"

Fred looked at her again, relieved to find her looking at the pond.

"I have no idea", he said, shrugging. "But it certainly is not harmless", he added, remembering the strong feeling of fear he had felt himself and had seen it in Hermione's eyes the night they were in the forest. Last night. He couldn't remember everything in detail and he certainly had lost any sense of time. There was just too much happening right now…

"It's strange, isn't?", he heard Hermione mutter next to him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean all these things…", she replied, still whispering quietly. "I've spend so much time with you and your family here at the Burrow… every summer, every Christmas, every Easter, and that's only the holidays… I mean, I've been around you guys since forever… and I never… it never felt that… weird… it's just strange…"

He watched her face from the side. Her eyes rested on some stones at the edge of the pond.

"Why is it strange?", he asked.

"Well… it's… maybe it's because it's just you and George and… me… and nobody else… I mean we almost lived next to each other at Hogwarts but we were… we… never been… erm… alone actually… talking like this… it's…"

"Strange", he finished with a grin.

She turned to look at him, her cheeks turning slightly pink. "Yes."

"Maybe it's just… unusual, you know? You certainly will get used to that!"

"Maybe I will…", she whispered, staring right into his eyes, before turning away again.

He did the same, staring across the pond towards the little forest.

"George said Angelina and Alicia are coming over today", she said after a while.

"Yeah they do", he replied. "Along with Lee and Katie. Hope you don't mind."

"How could I?", she asked and turned to him, slightly taken aback. "I mean, they are your friends and this is your home and I'm just a guest so I don't mind at all if you invite your friends –"

His smile calmed her down a bit.

"But… I'm just a bit…", she began, blushing, trying to avoid his gaze. "Embarrassed."

He grinned, chuckling slightly.

"Don't laugh at me!", she said a bit hurt, locking eyes with him.

"I'm not laughing _at_ you, I'll never do that. I'm just laughing _with_ you!", he said, grinning, before the dream of last night came back to his mind and he felt himself caught in a deja-vu.

"Well, I'll remember that", she replied, not noticing his sudden remembrance. "But I still feel stupid…"

His eyes widened slightly. "What?" He shook his head absentmindedly, erasing the last bits of the dream. This was strange. She most certainly didn't say the same things she said in his dream. No. No. He was imagining things.

She stared at him in confusion. "I said I still feel stupid…", she repeated frowning.

But she did say the same things. Fred felt suddenly kind of out of place. Was this possible?

"What's wrong with you?", she asked, looking at him a bit concerned.

"What?", he blurted out again, turning his full attention to the Hermione sitting next to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was… thinking…"

"Thinking?", she asked. It was her turn to laugh.

"Is it that surprising?", he replied, looking kind of hurt.

"No, no", she said, grinning. "It's not that. But you look rather cute when you're confused, you know that?"

He raised both eyebrows so that they disappeared under the hair that fell into his eyes.

Hermione suddenly stopped grinning, turning rather pale. "I… I haven't said that, have I? I –", she interrupted herself, her pale face turning bright red. "Now that's another reason feeling stupid…", she muttered, covering her face with her hands.

"Why is that a reason?", he said, chuckling.

"Because I'm always playing the fool…", she told her hands.

"You're not playing the fool…"

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't!"

"Yes I – I mean", she said, lowering her hands. "What is it with me acting that strange lately?"

"I guess it's natural. Hormones, you know?", he said, grinning.

She turned to look at him, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. "Hormones?"

"Yeah, hormones. You're fifteen, right?"

"I'm sixteen in about three months…", she added.

"There you have it. Brilliant age to start listen to your hormones…"

She stared at him, wondering whether to laugh or to just goggle at him. She then just shook her head, smiling. In the middle of her attempts to push away certain thoughts, she suddenly felt something burst inside of her. As if something wanted to break right through her stomach. She gasped, feeling a rather deep pain running through her spine.

Before she knew it she was lying on the edge of the pond, clutching her belly, crying in pain. She didn't know what happened or why it hurt so much, she just knew that it definitely wasn't planned. She saw red hair beside her, feeling hands touching her arms gently, hearing a voice calling her name – what sounded as if underwater. She gasped again, feeling like a fish without water. She pressed her hands against her abdomen, trying to fight the pain by squeezing it.

She then started coughing, feeling as if something was crawling up her throat. She couldn't breathe and she couldn't swallow. Coughing heavily, she rolled onto her side, curling up like a ball, holding her stomach with one hand and grabbing her throat with the other. As soon as it had begun, she felt a rush running through her veins and suddenly – it was over.

She coughed for one last time before she breathed as if she had been running, inhaling the air as if she had been underwater for too long. She relaxed slowly, rolling onto her back again. She opened her eyes and stared up into Fred's. Her chest went up and down hastily, her hands clutched to fists lying at her sides. She threw Fred a painful look.

"You scared me", he said quietly, looking concerned. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know", she said, her voice nothing more than a scratchy murmur.

"And you were wondering about hormones…", he said, a weak smile caressing his lips.

She managed to smile back at him, turning her head to look at the water just some feet away from her, lying in the sand. It must have been the last remaining bits of the just experienced incident that made her not see the shadow dancing above the pond. Like a cloud it hovered above the water and suddenly – it was gone.

* * *

**A/N: That was chapter ten... please review! And remember: I can make your wishes come true -winks-  
Oh and let me tell you that the next chapter might take a little longer (but there will certainly be some chapters next week), I'm writing just another fanfic in the moment... be surprised -gg-  
So long ... thank you everyone for reading!**  



	11. Roller Coaster Ride

**A/N: I am so sorry I haven't updated for about two weeks now... I just couldn't find the time to write on. I'm sorry -bows down-  
But anyways: Here I am once more, and I got something for you -gg- 3000 and something words of a new chapter! Hope you like it! Thanks for reading!**

* * *

_Chapter 11: Roller Coaster Ride_

After the more or less little incident, Hermione felt herself beaten down by a tremendously heavy headache. She decided to stay the rest of the day in Ginny's bedroom in order to relax a bit. Meanwhile, the twins changed the garden into a party zone.

"Hand me the glow-worms, George!", Fred shouted down to his brother, hovering in mid-air above the front door on his broom.

George looked up, being busy dispelling the gnomes from the spot he wanted to conjure a tent.

"Get down and get them yourself!", he shouted back, kicking a gnome with the tip of his shoe.

"Come on, do me a favour, bro!", Fred replied, holding onto the gutter of the roof, trying to fix a net at it. "I can't go now and get them myself –"

"What do you expect me to do?", George said, staring up. "Should I jump all the way towards you? Should I learn how to stretch my arm all the way up to you? I'm not a superhero and –"

"Well, I've always known that", Fred said, fixing the net by using his wand while trying to not break the gutter down.

"And besides, you know what you are?", George continued.

"What? A tremendously charming brother? Good-looking, intelligent, smart, funny and –"

"You are a wizard, dork!", George said slowly, raising one eye brow.

"Hey, yeah, you're right!", Fred said, grinning down at his twin.

He then raised his wand and pointed it down, saying "_Accio_ glow-worms!". After that, a large jar filled with tiny light dots shot up to him, landing in his outstretched hand. By opening it, the glow-worms quickly left the jar, but Fred pointed the wand at them and said – just when they were hovering above the net – "_Stupefy_!" and after that, the stunned light dots fell right into the net where they stayed, motionless but sparkling.

"Awesome", Fred muttered to himself, looking at his work. "Hey, George, what do you think?"

But George seemed to be busy rescuing himself from the gnomes.

* * *

The day went on rather uneventfully. By almost six o'clock, Hermione got downstairs again, a small voice inside telling her she'd better eat something. So she left Ginny's bedroom and walked down the stairs – just to almost knock over Angelina Johnson who just entered the house, walking backwards, her hands full of boxes. She just caught them again, preventing them from falling down by quickly pulling out her wand. Hermione felt herself blushing rapidly, staring at the black girl who didn't seemed to be amused. 

"Oh, I – I'm", she stammered, trying to help Angelina with the boxes.

"Forget it", was everything the girl replied before she placed the boxes on the kitchen table and headed outside again.

"But –"

Hermione just looked after her, her heart sinking. Unable to move any muscle, she just stood in the middle of the kitchen, her back to the stairs. Before she knew it, she felt herself being knocked down by something else. This time, it was her turn to stumble forwards, before turning around to see what happened.

"Oops, I didn't see you, Hermione", George told her, when he finished his way to the kitchen table, placing yet more boxes on it. "Sorry. You alright?"

She just nodded and watched him leaving the house afterwards.

"What's wrong with you, stupid?", she mumbled to herself while leaving the kitchen, heading to the living room.

"Who are you calling stupid?", she heard a voice behind her.

She turned around rather quickly, feeling her head spin again.

"Oh, I – I didn't mean … you… I –", she muttered, looking into Fred's blue eyes as he came downstairs, leaning against the doorframe between the kitchen and the living room. "I was just… talking to… myself…" She almost breathed the last words, her cheeks reddening with every syllable.

Fred just smiled at her, pushing himself off the doorframe.

"Erm, Fred?", she then asked, catching herself again.

"Yeah?"

"What… what are you doing?", she asked, her voice something between a whisper and a husky growl. "I mean, what are these boxes for?"

Fred followed her gaze, looking at the boxes on the kitchen table.

"We'll have a party", he then said. "In the garden. We are just waiting for Lee and Katie to arrive."

She nodded automatically. "Alright, I… I think I'll go upstairs again, then…"

"How's your head?", Fred asked, standing in the middle of the kitchen, watching her.

"Hm?", she asked, staring at him.

"Your head. Does it still ache?", he repeated.

"Oh, well, only a bit…"

"Well, why don't you join us then?"

"Join… you…?", she blurted out, feeling slightly taken aback.

She had been so deep in thoughts about self-pity, hormones and some other aspects her mind kept telling her, she just didn't seem to be able to state the obvious. She was a part of this house now (whether unwillingly or not), who was she to neglect Fred's offer? Who was she to rather spend an evening alone instead of spending it with some people from school? Who was she to not want to have some fun? She always witnessed Fred and George's parties at Hogwarts in the Gryffindor common room and she always felt a bit jealous about not being a part of it. Now she had the opportunity. 'Just do it.'

"Yeah, join us", Fred replied, watching her. "I mean, if your head wants to party with us!", he added with a smirk.

She looked at him before a slight smile broke from the corners of her mouth.

"Yeah. Yes, that sounds nice", she said, locking eyes with him.

"Alright then. We're outside – do you want to help me with the boxes or do you wish to change into different clothes maybe?", he asked with a wink.

"What? Why… should I?", she replied perplexed, looking down on herself.

Fred just laughed. "Nevermind, you look great!"

Hermione stared at him, her mind racing.

"Well, time's Galleons. I'm off", he then broke the moment of embarrassment and turned to leave. "And Hermione", he added.

"Hm?"

"I mean it. Come, join us!" With that he left the kitchen and headed outside.

She just stood for several moments, staring at the spot where Fred had left.

* * *

After that things got messed up. She remembered how she followed Fred outside, how she stared at the beautiful decoration with her mouth open, how she met the gazes of Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Lee and George and how she felt rather stupid amidst the seventh years. After that someone had offered her something to drink and then, darkness approached utterly quickly…

* * *

"Whazzat?", Hermione tried to say, suddenly realizing that her tongue felt kind of heavy inside her mouth. 

George, who had offered her a large cup of reddish looking liquid, merely grinned at her, throwing a look at his twin who stood some foot away with Angelina und Katie. Hermione stared at George, trying to stand still; even if her body seemed to be on a roller coaster ride. He shoved her the cup and before she knew it, she gulped down the liquid. Behind her, she could hear Lee laugh. The cup fell off her hands, rolling across the earthy ground - empty.

She turned around to look at the other people, suddenly seeing four twins. Hermione eyes widened when two of them slowly approached her. Her stomach made a funny flip and she thought she would be standing upside down. How much had she drunk since she had left the house? How much time did actually pass? She couldn't remember anything. She just stood in the middle of the Weasley's garden, the lovely decoration with its glittering glow-worms caught in a net and the other sparkling lights around her, and her mind seemed to be far away.

She couldn't remember feeling like this once before in her life. This was… interesting. She felt numb, yet she could feel every inch of her body twisting and burning as if on fire. Her head felt so lightweight (she seemed to know the expression air-head now). As she tried to walk towards one of the tables, she felt her limbs refusing to work. Her legs seemed to break underneath her and she just stumbled forwards, when suddenly two of the four twins approached her.

Hands grabbed her before she could fall to the ground. She looked up into two pairs of sparkling blue eyes.

"Let gorroffeee", she mumbled, trying to tell who was which twin. "You… you're George", she told the one standing on her left. "So you must be Fred…", she told the other one.

"No, I'm Fred", said the one on the left.

"So you are George", the right one said.

"No, I'm Fred", the twin said.

Hermione stared at them puzzled. "But…" Her forehead furrowed and her eyes tried to focus on the face to the right. "But you are… two… erm…"

She then felt a hand grab her chin, her head being turned to the left.

"I'm here, Hermione", a smiling twin said. "Fred, remember?"

"And who's that?", she asked, motioning to the suddenly blurry twin next to him.

"No one", Fred said.

"But… erm… how?", she said, but then she felt herself dragged towards a chair, where she sat down, glad to finally not spin anymore.

"How much did you drink?", Fred asked, leaning next to the chair against the table.

"I… erm… I can't remember… I don't … erm…", she stuttered, looking down at her feet which started moving as if someone attached a string to them and played with them from far above. "Hihi, look!", she said, pointing at them.

Fred let out a chuckle. "Alright, no more Fire-whiskey for you", he said and pushed off the table.

"What?", Hermione blurted out, looking at him. "No more what? But… I haven't had any of that this night…"

"Yeah", Fred said and rolled his eyes, grinning. "And my name's not Fred!"

"Ha!", Hermione said, standing up (too) quickly. "I knew you were George!"

Fred caught her before she could fall face down to the ground, dragging her back into the chair. Sighing, he kneeled in front of her and looked up at her. She was still staring down at him, even if her gaze seemed a bit unfocused.

"Well, if I'm George, why is Fred snogging with Alicia?"

"WHAT?", Hermione spat out, knocking Fred over when she suddenly jumped out of the chair. She stood a bit shaky on her feet, looking around puzzled. Fred got to his feet again, laughing slightly. He then put one hand on her shoulder.

"Jealous, dear?", he whispered.

She immediately froze, her chest quickly moving up and down. She swallowed and slowly turned around to face Fred.

"NO!", she then blurted out. "Why should I be jealous? I don't care what your twin –"

But Fred merely grinned at her, nodding towards George who stood with Alicia, Angelina, Lee and Katie, laughing brightly. Hermione followed his gaze and suddenly felt something rush down her body. It was as if something fell off her. The weight she'd missed before was there again and it seemed to be dragging her down to the ground. She stared at the group of people, before she looked back at Fred, her eyes narrowed.

"You are…", she began, but then shook her head and took a step away from him. "I'm not jealous!", she said quickly before she turned around and stumbled away from the party.

"Come on, Hermione, that was a joke!", Fred yelled after her – but she was gone.

* * *

Hermione had often felt a bit out of place yet she never had felt this cold stab of – she didn't even know what it was, but it felt horrible. She felt as if she was a stranger in a world she just didn't belong. This was Fred and George's world and these were their friends. She just wasn't one of their friends; she was Ron and Ginny's friend. And this will never change because she knew she wasn't the right… company for the twins. She was boring and stupid and so not funny and – 

"Hermione!", a call throw her out of her self-pity.

But she ignored the voice, knowing that probably one of those mean people ran after her, trying to calm her, trying to explain that they were sorry. But she knew that they wouldn't mean it. They would never admit that they didn't like her – but she knew that they did. Because she was little, stupid, all-knowing –

"Hermione!"

"OH COME OFF IT!", she yelled, turning around as she did. "LEAVE ME A –"

She froze. There was nothing behind her but plain darkness. She had left the party zone, heading straight to the forest. The sudden realization that she was all alone at the edge of the forest, with a voice calling her name, made her shiver heavily. She suddenly felt cold – even if it was summer and the temperatures were still quite high. She spun around, looking everywhere – but she could see nothing but blackness.

She couldn't even see the Burrow anymore. She then felt the urge to scream, she wanted to be rescued; she wanted to run away from the fear that was rising inside of her. But she could already feel a heavy panic growing inside her stomach. She swallowed, clutching the bottom of her shirt. When she heard the voice again, she jumped and let out a shriek.

"Don't be afraid, Hermione", the voice said. It was nearer now.

She looked around. "Who are you? And … where are you? What do you want?"

"I want to warn you", the voice said, suddenly from behind her.

She spun around to see nothing. "What for?"

"You are going to make a big mistake!", the voice said, again moved to the other side.

"What? What big mistake?"

"You are dealing with the wrong people", another voice said, coming right from behind her.

Hermione spun around. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who we are… you'll find out sooner or later, dear", the other voice said.

"But –", Hermione asked, looking around as if watching a tennis match.

"Just be aware…", the first voice said.

"That you are running into misery…", the other voice added.

"If you continue this way…"

"Forget about everything and turn around…"

"To see –", the voice began.

Hermione spun around once more. "To see what?"

That very moment there were small red dots hovering in mid-air. She stared at them when they suddenly came closer, forming into large, angry red eyes. Hermione screamed, stumbling backwards when large grey hands tried to grab her.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!", she screamed. "I SAID: Leave me –"

Her voice grew fainter and suddenly darkness was above her.

* * *

It was four a.m. when Fred and George said goodbye to Alicia, Angelina, Katie and Lee. 

"Great party, boys", Alicia said, kissing George on the cheek with a wink.

"Yeah, you're improving", Lee said. "That stuff we drank… well, I don't want to know what that was… but…" He just chuckled.

"Have a nice ride home, guys", Fred said with a grin. "Hope you all find the way!"

"You'd better hope we do or you'll hear from us…", Angelina said with a smirk, hugging Fred goodbye.

"Well, I thought we do anyways", George said. "There's only one week left until our parents come back from Romania."

"So think about something and we'll be there", Katie said. The others nodded with her.

They then mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground, leaving the Burrow and the twin's party zone.

Fred and George then began to free the glow-worms and clean the place before George pointed out: "Hey, where's Hermione?"

"What?", Fred said, looking up from collecting the empty boxes from the ground in which they had hidden the bottles that were now lying everywhere in the garden.

"Where's Hermione?", George repeated.

"Oh shit…", Fred mumbled. "I… I totally forgot about her…"

George raised both eyebrows. "When have you seen her for the last time?"

"I… can't remember… I guess she ran off towards the forest after we…", he began, before he shook his head and put the boxes down again.

"You lost her again…", George said.

"I guess so…", Fred whispered, staring towards the dark outline of the forest ahead. "Damn it…"

"So will you look after her?"

"What? Stepping into that forest again? No, sir!", Fred said, shaking his head.

"You're scared?"

"I am NOT scared, dear brother", Fred blurted out. "I –"

"What?", George asked with a grin. "Come on, I know that you're afraid of the dark!"

Fred just stared at him. "Yeah, whatever", he then said quickly, looking back at the forest. "What are we going to do now?"

"Look for her?", George merely said.

"But where?"

"In the forest?"

"You go there, I'll search the garden!"

"Say that again!"

"You go –"

"I won't go anywhere!"

"But –"

"No, forget it!"

"Come on, we –"

"No, _you_, bro! That's your business!"

"But –"

"No", George said with finality. "Go and look for her yourself!" He then continued cleaning the garden.

Fred watched him, before he turned to the forest again. There he saw something approaching them. He took some steps towards it and recognized a rather distracted looking Hermione.

"Hermione!", he called. "George, I've found her!"

George turned around. "I would say, she found you…"

Fred looked at his twin before he noticed that Hermione headed straight towards him.

"Hey Hermione, we've been worried about you", he said.

But she just stared at him. "Leave me alone!", she said and went past him.

"But –"

"I'm tired", she said and entered the house.

"What –"

"What was that about?", George finished his twin's question.

"I have no idea…", Fred said, staring after her.

* * *

Hermione went right upstairs to Ginny's bedroom where she fell to the bed immediately. She felt about to cry – but her eyes were merely burning. No tears wanted to leave her. She felt horrible and the fact that she couldn't even cry made her feel even worse. As soon as her back hit the bed-sheet, she felt herself caught inside a roller coaster again. Her head was spinning and her stomach was twisting. She felt so sick yet she wasn't sure if she was even able to vomit. 

She just lay on her back, feeling as if swirling through the room with her bed jumping up and down. She closed her eyes and there she saw the red eyes again, which made her jump again. She sat on her bed; her head still spinning, and her senses about to explode. When she lay down again, she heard the faint noise of a door being opened and then she felt that someone put one of her feet on the floor.

As soon as she felt solid ground again, the spinning grew fainter and she was even able to close her eyes without seeing the red eyes again. She felt a hand touching her forehead before a soft voice told her about toast and water.

"Toast and water?", she mumbled, trying to look at the person whose voice she had heard.

"Yeah, toast and water. Here, I'll put them down, okay? Try it, it'll help!"

Before she could focus on her opposite, the voice moved again.

"Try to sleep, alright?"

She then saw a flash of red hair leaving the room.

With that she tried to grab the water glass with shaking hands, gulping down the interior, slopping half of it to the floor. She then lay down again, fully clothed, and soon drifted away into a dreamless sleep, feeling the end of the roller coaster ride approaching.

* * *

**A/N: So that was chapter 11... what do you think? Please tell me AND review -gg-**

**Before I have to make some notes on the story so far, I want to thank all you guys who read my story! And a special thank you to everyone who reviewed:**

Writing Goddess1991**: You read it right through? Wow, that's amazing. I'm so glad you couldn't pull away from it -gg- Thanks! Here's the update!**

Niniel23**: Another nice review -gg- Thanks!**

SnowRose23**: Glad you read on! Thanks for loving (loving loving loving loving ...) my story! That feels so great to be loved (said the story) -lol- Thank you! **

modelicous**: Yeah that's true. Hermione had gone through much stuff so I now think it fits too -gg- Well, I wouldn't have written it if I weren't sure about it... would I? -gg- Thank you for liking it so far!**

fred-george-r-hott**: I love your nick -ggg- And I thank you for your review! (Bloody brilliant... wow thanks!) Read on and find out what's going on with Hermione -smiles-**

MarauderinglyMagical**: Thanks for liking it -gg-**

SnapeLestrangeGirl: **Thank you! Yeah I wanted to twitch the real and the magical world a bit... I thought it boring to just use the magical world so I brought some real issues (as you call it) into it... glad you like it -gg- thanks!**

HiddenOperaAngel: **Thanks. Thanks again. Alright, here's more -gg- **

**So everyone, thanks again for reading and reviewing! Please don't stop!**

**Well, now I have to say something about this story... first of all: I had a bad time neglecting it the past two weeks, my head was so empty... I felt really miserable about it but I just didn't know how to continue... so, I hope you still like it... I think I connected it again like I did before ... or so... -confused- erm... right, so another note is a BIG MISTAKE of myself... my fault... it's about the Burrow... and I feel so stupid... I read that Fred and George's room is on the second landing of the Burrow and Ginny's bedroom is on the third... well, in my story Ginny's bedroom is UNDERNEATH the twin's bedroom... so well, hope you'll forgive me -gg- There might be other details that I have screwed up... but well... this is my story and I can do whatever I want, right? -gg-**

**Yeah I think that'll be all... please read on! The next chapter might be up... next year... hehe... I love that joke... so everyone: HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR! **


	12. Shattered Glass

**A/N: I'm back, apparently! -dances- Jep, with another chapter, I finally managed to write it!  
Hope you like it! And don't forget: please review afterwards! Thanks -bows-**_

* * *

_

_Chapter 12: Shattered glass_

Hermione awoke with the worst headache she'd ever had. When she opened her eyes, she felt as if she was standing right on top of the Hogwarts Express, its steam blurring her view, its noise racing in her ears, and its rumbling underneath her feet shaking through her every bone. She moaned a bit when she tried to sit up, rubbing her temples gently, trying to focus on her surroundings.

Alright. What do we have? Shelves. A door. Floor and ceiling. Walls. A bed and a nightstand. A window and annoyingly bright light. A bedroom. Ginny's bedroom. Ginny. Weasleys. Burrow. Summer holidays. Slowly everything came back to Hermione's mind and she sighed when her view finally cleared a bit. She pushed her hair out of her eyes and put her feet on the ground. Staring at her socks, she realized she'd been falling asleep fully clothed. Why would she do that?

Oh. Right. Weasleys. Burrow. Holidays. Twins. Party. Guests. Drinks. Alcohol. Hangover.

"Oh great", she mumbled and rubbed her eyes, feeling her head heavy on her neck. "If I should ever forget about this, please remind me, no alcohol for me again. Never again. Thank you…"

She breathed deeply and looked around once more. There was a plate with toast standing on the nightstand. Next to it, a half full glass of water. She grabbed the water and gulped it down to get rid of the disgusting taste inside her mouth. She then stood up from bed, very slowly for she was kind of afraid that her head might be falling off if she stood up too quickly. Walking as if she just learnt to do so, she moved to the door and tried to reach the bathroom – the most wanted destination she could think of.

Stepping inside the somehow cold bathroom, she was glad that it was empty. No encounters before she had a shower. That would have been awful. She closed the door and slowly got rid of her clothes, before she walked to the sink, turned on the water from the tap and lowered her head slowly to push cold water to her face. It was like ice and yet it cleared her view. When she raised her head again, water drops dripping off her skin, she focused on her reflection in the mirror.

She looked terrible, her eyes were swollen and the rings underneath them seemed to be big enough to hide some Galleons below. Her lips were brittle, her skin looked unnaturally pale. And her hair was a mess as usual. She shook her head carefully and when she wanted to look away, she suddenly saw something.

Her eyes turned to slits and she tried to focus on the mirror more intensely. Suddenly her vision blurred and everything she could see, was her pale face amidst dark, swirling shadows in which glowing dots were visible. These dots slowly formed to eyes and immediately turned red. Her own eyes widened and a scream wanted to emerge from her throat but all she could manage to do – was stare. The mirror seemed to shake and even the bathroom's floor seemed to be moving. The shadows surrounded her and while watching them, Hermione felt fear and panic rising inside her. There was a lump forming in her throat and yet it felt as if someone was squeezing it.

The light bulb next to the mirror suddenly exploded and shattered glass hit her face. She stood panting in front of the mirror, her hands clutching the sink, her heart seemingly motionless. There was nothing that mattered but these shadows around her reflection, she stared at them and at these red eyes and before she knew it, a shriek emerged from her throat and her right hand pushed off the sink and the fist hit the mirror with tension, her knuckles meeting the glass with rage. A crack went through the mirror and all of a sudden it not only fell into pieces – but exploded and almost spit its shattered pieces at her.

An angry roar echoed in her ears before silence fell over her.

Her fist was still pushed against the wall where the mirror had been and its broken bits were lying all around her. Her arm shook slightly and the muscles within ached with pain. Her mouth was open and her breath came out quickly and kind of violently. The scratches, where the glass had hit her face and arms, burned on her skin but she didn't feel them. She felt numb.

Whatever she had been seeing in the mirror, it had disturbed her more than anything else she had experienced before. She still felt distracted and numb when she stepped into the shower. Feeling the cold water on her skin, she just stood there, naked, motionless, and unable to think or do anything.

It was then when she heard a knock on the door.

* * *

"Hermione? Are you in there?", Fred asked through the door after knocking at it for a couple of minutes. 

He'd heard shattering noises from the bathroom so he went up to look at what happened. But now he could only hear the water of the shower and beside that, an eerie silence.

"Hermione?", he asked on and on, not realizing the passing time.

"What's wrong?", George asked, approaching his twin slowly.

"Hermione's in there."

"Well spotted, mate", George replied, rolling his eyes. "And apparently –", he added, moving closer to the door. "She's taking a shower!"

Fred stared at him, slightly annoyed. "Tell me, George, how long do you usually take a shower?"

"You don't want to know that, do you?"

"I'm asking, now, am I?"

"Well, I –", George began irritated, before goggling at his brother. "Hang on, what's the point?"

"She's in there for almost an hour…"

"So what?"

"I'm just… worried… you know what she had done before…"

"So you think she –"

"I've heard something shatter, as if she smashed the mirror or something. And well… she might –"

"So what are you waiting for? Do you think she'll open up again when she wants to –"

"You're right", Fred said and turned to the door again. "Erm, Hermione, I hope you're decent…"

With that he turned the door handle, quickly realizing that the door was locked. He then stepped back and kicked the door open. Wood flew around and the remaining bits of the door fell to the ground. Fred threw George an irritated look when he noticed Hermione's clothes lying on the ground, surrounded by pieces of a broken mirror. He entered the bathroom and followed the noise of water to the shower.

He carefully stretched out a hand to touch the curtain to pull it aside.

"Hermione, are you alright?", he said, grabbing the curtain and slowly began to pull it aside.

Before he could finish that motion, the curtain itself moved aside, and suddenly he saw a shaking, pale Hermione standing in a jet of water, clutching her sides, mumbling inaudible things, her eyes wide with horror. He automatically grabbed a towel (ignoring her nakedness) and wrapped it around her – for she seemed to be unable to move herself. He then turned off the water and by doing so, he threw Hermione back into the world of consciousness.

She gasped, drawing deep breaths, and looked around irritated. When she realized that she was standing in the old bathtub of the Weasley's house, a towel wrapped around her naked body and someone called Fred holding her by having placed his hands on her upper arms, she couldn't help but stare. Stare into those worried blue eyes.

"What – what happened?", she asked, her voice shaking. She suddenly felt very cold.

"I wanted to ask you the same", Fred said, watching her with concern. "Are you alright?"

She still stared at him, before she looked down on herself and on his hands on her arms. She immediately blushed a deep shade of red and tried to avoid his gaze.

He slowly removed his hands from her arms, still looking at her.

"Hermione, you're bleeding", he then said, pointing at her left cheek.

She raised a hand to touch it and after lowering it again, she saw blood on the tips of her fingers.

"Would you tell me what happened to you? And to the mirror?", Fred asked, looking sideways to the spot where the mirror has been, only to see that even the light bulb was broken. "And what about that light bulb?"

Hermione followed his gaze. "I – I don't know…"

Fred watched her, frowning.

She slowly tried to step out of the bathtub, but when she raised a leg to get it over the edge, she suddenly slipped and almost fell head first to the wall – if Fred hadn't held her just in time. His hands grabbed her waist, the towel dangerously loose around her body now. She quickly got hold of his shoulders and used him to step out of the bathtub (trying to not step on the broken glass that was still lying on the floor) before she nervously clutched the towel and prevented it from falling down. Looking up at him (while he was still holding her waist), she bit her lips and couldn't think of anything to say.

When someone cleared his throat, she almost jumped. Fred let go of her waist and they both turned to look at the door where George was standing with a rather amused smile on his lips. Hermione's eyes widened and she tightened the grip on her towel. Fred rolled his eyes and stepped to the door.

"Hey, George, why don't you go down and prepare lunch?", he said with a wink.

George gaped at him but left the place chuckling. Fred then turned to Hermione again who was staring at the floor, her cheeks unnaturally red. Water was dripping from her hair that – for the first time he could remember – was straight. She looked good with straight hair and with her skin this pale and –

He quickly shook his head and refused to think what he wanted to think. No. Leave it. Not now.

He then bent down to gather her clothes.

"How's your head?", he asked after a while of picking shards off her clothes.

"My – my head?", she replied, her voice almost cracking up.

"Yeah, your head."

"My head is –", she began, before breaking up.

Fred looked up. She was still standing next to the bathtub, clutching the towel, staring at the floor – meeting his eyes. He sensed some kind of disturbance in her gaze, even though he wasn't sure about it. But seeing what the bathroom looked like, he knew that something wasn't right. He grabbed her clothes and stood up, seeing that she was following his movement. They locked eyes before Fed held out a hand to offer her her clothing.

"I'm sorry about the mirror", she said after a while staring at his outstretched hand.

He moved his head a bit and watched her.

"Will you tell me what happened to it?"

She stared at him, her expression a mixture of pain, fear, confusion and frustration. A seemingly deadly mixture.

"I – I told you, I don't know…"

"You can't remember?"

"I guess…"

"So this was … one of your… let's call it… dropouts? Someone made you smash the mirror?"

"No, I… I smashed the mirror myself… but…", she said, staring at her hands that were red with scratches.

"But what?"

"But… I had the feeling that I had to smash the mirror… I just…", she suddenly broke up, raising one eyebrow. She then cleared her throat.

"What's wrong?", Fred asked, waiting for her to continue.

"What's wrong?", she repeated with a cracked up laugh. "Look what we are doing! Where we are."

Fred watched her, his forehead furrowed.

"Well, I don't know about you but I'd never had this kind of talking in a bathroom. Wearing only a towel…", she said and looked around at the mess of glass.

Fred chuckled. Hell, yeah, that was slightly uncomfortable. Even though he might have enjoyed it.

"Erm, you might be right", he then said. "What about you getting dressed again while I clean up this mess and we talk later?"

She looked up at him and nodded. "Sounds good."

She then grabbed her clothes that he was still holding and moved carefully over the shards to the door. Reaching the door, she turned around once more to look at him.

"Oh, and Fred?"

"Hm?", he said, turning around.

"Thank you for… erm… you know…"

He grinned at her. "No problem", he replied. "Oh and besides, do you remember what I told you?"

"Of course", she said, smiling. "No more apologies… I keep forgetting that…"

"So this is the very last time, alright?"

"I hope so", she said and threw him a grateful look before she turned around to leave the bathroom.

Fred watched her leave with a weird feeling rising inside of him.

* * *

Hermione quickly got dressed and tied her hair to a ponytail. She then tried to check on all the scratches the broken glass produced. She was still wondering what really happened in the bathroom and she still had no clue about it. Without wanting to think about it more than necessary, she left Ginny's bedroom and went back to the bathroom – to find Fred leaving it. 

"I'm done here", he said – and looking at her, wearing trousers and a jumper, he added: "You too, I assume?"

She nodded, looking past him to see a clean and shining bathroom. There was no shattered glass anymore and the mirror was fixed again and even the light bulb was working. She took some steps to the sink and turned the water on.

"I just want to… wash these scratches…", she said, rolling up her sleeves.

He stepped into the bathroom again and leant against the wall next to the door. Watching her examining her wounds, he quickly stepped to her when she began to rub on them that they started bleeding again.

"Wait, let me help you, okay?", he said kindly and got hold of her arm.

She stopped in her tracks and slowly raised her head to look at him – when she suddenly caught something out of the corner of her eye. Her head spun around and before she knew it, she stared at her reflection, anxious, distracted, confused. Her eyes widened when she saw something moving behind Fred. Her head spun around again – but there was nothing behind Fred. She looked back at the mirror – where she could clearly see something dark floating next to Fred's left ear.

She gasped when the shadows grew larger and thicker and suddenly the whole mirror was filled with them, except of her pale face and Fred's puzzled face who just stared at Hermione as if she's gone mad. She was, apparently, because she – again – saw things that weren't there. She stared at the mirror and all of a sudden the shadows swirled around Fred's reflection – trying to strangle him. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Fred was just fine.

What the –

But then she felt as if she had to do something and waved her arms around, accidentally hitting Fred in the face with her right arm.

"GO AWAY!", she screamed at the mirror, trying to fight the shadows that kept swirling around her reflection. "LET GO OF HIM!", she yelled, tears in her eyes. The shadows now moved closer and closer and suddenly Fred's face was gone and instead there were two blue eyes staring at her. Her own eyes widened when they suddenly started to bleed and turned to red. Like flames the eyes glowed in the dark of the mirror.

"NO!", she cried and leapt forwards to destroy the mirror and its disturbing images.

Fred, rubbing his chin (where Hermione accidentally hit him), stared at her and jumped to life just in time to prevent her from smashing the mirror again. He got hold of her arms and struggled with a Hermione that kicked around hard as if he was some foe trying to kidnap her.

"Hermione, calm down!", he yelled over her own angry roars. "CALM DOWN!"

As quick as she had changed into a violent fury, she changed back into her former, calm and confused self. She sank into Fred's arms as if life had been sucked out of her. He stared at the back of her head, panting slightly. Pulling his arms around, patting her back gently, he raised his head to look into the mirror.

What had she been seeing in there?

* * *

"Ouch!", Hermione blurted out when Fred tried to disinfect the bloody scratches on her cheeks. "That burns!" 

"That is supposed to burn, dear", Fred replied, grinning. "Otherwise it wouldn't work…"

"But that _hurts_!"

"Be strong", he said and watched her, how she winced every time he touched her face with the handkerchief that he dipped into some Disinfecting-potion.

"I can't be strong when you burn my face with this stuff! And besides, it's –", she began complaining with her eyes watering violently. "It's smelling!"

"But it's good for you!"

Hermione stared at him. "What about I'll scratch you the next time and then try this stuff on you?"

"Sounds nice", he said with a wink and continued cleaning her wounds.

"Ow! That's torture, you know that?"

"Is it?"

"Yes, it is."

"Alright, it's torture", he agreed and dipped the handkerchief into the potion again. "So, if this is torture, I might finally get some answers out of you by torturing you."

"What – what answers?", she asked, staring at him irritated.

"Answers to some questions…"

"What questions?"

"Questions like 'What happened?' or 'Why did you smash the mirror?' or –"

"Oh, those questions…"

"What questions have you been thinking of?"

Hermione blushed slightly. "Well, different ones…"

Fred stopped in his tracks, his hand inches away from her left ear, his forehead furrowed, a smile lurking on his lips. "Shall I deepen this topic?"

"Oh no, no, it's alright", she mumbled, her eyes examining his face that was quite close to hers. She then saw the bruise on his chin where she had hit him. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"Does that… hurt?", she asked, staring at his chin, raising one hand.

Touching the slightly blue spot on his chin with her index finger, she unknowingly moved her head a little closer to his. Fred watched her with his eyebrows raised.

"Actually –", he began, lowering his own hand that was holding the handkerchief. "No, it doesn't."

"You sure?" she asked and stroke his chin gently with two fingers.

"Erm, yeah, I am…", he said.

"But it looks… as if it would hurt…", she whispered, sunken into touching and staring at his chin.

"It doesn't…", he whispered back.

Hermione finally broke from staring at his chin and instead looked up into his eyes. Their gazes locked and while Hermione could count every freckle on his nose, Fred examined her eyelashes. Even though he pushed aside every thought of the dream he had some nights before and every other moment that had been slightly irritating, he couldn't help but lean in closer to her.

She watched him move closer, her heart missing a beat. His blue eyes drew nearer and nearer and just when his nose was about to touch hers, a thought jerked through her head as if she had been struck by lightening. Her head twitched back and she almost fell backwards on the carpet of the living room, where they both knelt. Grabbing blindly around to catch something to prevent her from falling, she got hold of his shirt, her eyes widened and before she knew it, the force of her pulling back knocked both of them over and suddenly, Fred was on top of her, his body pinning her to the ground.

She stared up into his eyes, panting as if she had been running. Her heart was drumming against her chest, her mind racing. By the time Fred crawled off of her and knelt down next to her, grinning, the thought, that had caused this, had disappeared. She looked sideways at him, his grin being intoxicating. She smiled back at him and before she could even think about it, he leant down and his lips met hers.

Kissing Hermione was different from what he had imagined. First, he hadn't thought of her lying on the ground with him leaning over her, second, he hadn't thought about it happening in the Weasley's living room, and third, he hadn't thought about it happening at all. But it seemed that it had been worth the try. He leant in even closer, his arms propped against the floor, his lips caressing her mouth. She didn't seem to not want it either; at least he felt no resistance.

But suddenly there was something else. She responded his kiss, yet it felt as if something wanted to block that moment. It seemed as if something was pushing him away – even though she was lying totally still. And just when his tongue got into the reach of hers, he felt something pull him back violently. His head jerked back as if pulled by the hair by something invisible. His eyes widened when he saw something dark and swirly emerge from her still open mouth. She stared at it as well, her eyes wide with horror.

Before he could think about it, the shadow forming seemingly from her breath (or something else) seemed to jump onto him, knocking him over, an unseeing weight pinning him to the ground. Darkness was around him and the only thing he could see was a pair of red eyes. As soon as the shadow appeared, it was gone again – but before disappearing wholly, it seemed to hit Fred hard in the stomach. Moaning with pain and confused with his eyes wide open, he stared at the small dark cloud leaving the house through an open window.

"What the – hell?", was all he could manage to say before he turned his confused gaze to Hermione, who sat on the floor, equally confused and slightly ashamed of what just happened.

She'd ruined the moment of their first kiss.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading -drumroll- Chapter 12! Hope you all enjoyed it (I actually had fun writing it -grins- esp. the last bits... hehe)**

**So, yeah, please please please review and tell me what you think! And thank you for reading and reviewing so far...  
I can't believe, this story got almost 4000 hits (I am so flattered! Thank you so much!) ... but there's something even better: this very story had been added to a C2 (called "****Hermoine and one of the twins equals love", managed by Tara-Yo, check it out... many Hermione/Twins fics)! That makes me so happy to see MY story in that c2 or in your guys list of favorite stories (or even my name in some lists of favorite authors), that is just great! Thank you so much!**

**And continuing threwing around with thank yous ... THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS!**

HiddenOperaAngel:** hehe, yeah, I think sometimes it's hard for a wizard to remember who he is... or what he is... yeah, poor everyone -grins- thanks for your review and a belated happy new year to you as well!**

So this is love: **It's great you have enjoyed**** the story so far, I'm glad you like it! About Hermione not talking etc... well, imagine you are at a house with your close friends absent and only two pranksters around you whom you seemingly cannot trust or whatever... I wouldn't want to talk to people that I hardly know... and imagine: Hermione's confused -grins- But well, Hermione gets to know the twins more and she will talk to them much more I'll promise nn Everything will be just fine -sings- Erm, yeah, so, thanks for the review -bows-**

SnapeLestrangeGirl: **Happy new year to you too (a belated one)! Thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy how it will go on... **

laurelin: **Yeah, damn, you managed to write a review! -grins- I'm just flattered! Such an honor... hehe... but I'm equally glad that you like what I'm trying to do... this is quite important for me. You know, after that Draco/Ginny fanfic I wrote ages ago (damn, I never finished the sequel...), it's my next attempt on writing something like this... and this time I'm really in love with the character -drools on Fred-picture- erm, well, yeah, so I really hope it turns out well ... Thank you again for the review (I'm always so excited when I see a new review!)!**

** So, I also thank everybody else who is reading this, then I want to thank my dear computer without whom I'd never managed to write this and I'd like to thank JKR for creating such great stuff and I want to thank James Phelps who turned Fred into such an adorable character -grins- and - oh well, I have to spare some thank yous when I'll reach the end of this story... which will be... not now and not tomorrow and not next month... but someday I'll finish it - with tears in my eyes because it's over... but it isn't over yet and more is about to come soon (I told myself: one chapter in two weeks which could make it easier for me to do all that other crap I have to do (mostly school), so be aware... every other week there will be a new chapter for you)**

** So long, guys, thanks for reading this! -waves and vanishes-  
**


	13. Fighting Demons

**A/N: Yes, you can trust your eyes. It's true. This IS a new chapter! I finally killed my writer's block and I also cleared my mind from school stuff (for I finished my last exams for now!). So, yeah, finally I'm able to update -sighes- Alright, I know this is a rather short chapter, but it has to be because it's leading to some more action and climax and the solving of problems and stuff. So, look forward to it! xDD **

**Now, have fun with my lucky number (chapter) thirteen:**

* * *

_Chapter 13: Fighting Demons _

The following night, Hermione lay awake in her bed in Ginny's bedroom, ever and ever recalling what happened the day before. Her head was spinning, drumming against her skull. And her thoughts kept swirling back and forth. She recalled standing in the bathroom, smashing the mirror, seeing those terrible red eyes, seeing the shadows strangle Fred – and the next moment, she felt Fred kissing her – and then again, there were the shadows she had seen in the mirror before, strangling Fred … again. But that time, it wasn't just her imagination. It had been real.

She sat up in bed and pushed the bed sheets away, feeling terribly hot and feverish. She stood up and walked over to the room's window. Opening it, she breathed in the cool night air. The darkness was calming her down a bit. She closed her eyes and recalled once more what happened after kissing Fred – which she suddenly felt more important than seeing things that weren't actually there.

After being strangled by a shadow that had emerged from Hermione's mouth, Fred had stared at her as she had turned into a Basilisk. She could understand his horror and yet she felt rejected. She wanted him to – yeah, what? She couldn't expect him to ignore what happened. She couldn't expect him to not ask questions, to not stare at her as if she had gone insane. She just didn't know what to expect from him at all. She wanted to explain to him what happened, why this thing formed from her breath and attacked him – but she couldn't.

She didn't know anything. She didn't know why these things happened to her. Was someone plotting them? Or was it all her fault? Did she create all this?

Suddenly a thought struck her like lightening and she turned around to throw a look through Ginny's bedroom. She found what she was looking for and knelt down next to the bed where her trunk stood with its lid open. She crammed through her clothes and found the books she'd carried from home. She got hold of a rather large one and pulled it out of the trunk. Flipping through the pages she found what came to her mind.

Eagerly reading through the passage again and again, confusion changed places with comprehension. Hermione then stood up, banging the book shut and left the bedroom, running barefoot through the corridors of the Burrow, trying to share her wisdom.

She ran up the stairs towards the twins' bedroom, her mind racing, blocking out any sense of tact. Would she have been **not** out of her mind, would she have been not totally eager to share what she found out, would she have been reading between the lines and would she have been not that keen on the pure facts, she wouldn't have stormed right into the twin's bedroom, disturbing their sleep, being a complete fool.

But she did.

She burst open the bedroom door, the book in her hands, her eyes scanning the dark room, looking for someone who might want to share her wisdom. But when she looked through the room, she could only see one bed occupied, its resident sitting up sleepily, red hair standing up in all directions.

"Hermione?", a sleepy voice asked within a couple of yawns. "What are you doing here?"

She recognized the voice as George's and suddenly her mind shut down and she realized what she was doing, she realized what a complete fool she had been. Backing up as quickly as she had stormed into the room, she lowered her gaze, mumbling inaudible things, almost losing the book she was carrying. When she turned around she almost let out a shriek.

"Hermione?", Fred whispered, staring at her.

She, on the other hand, stared back at him, finding him only wearing pyjama bottoms. She swallowed and just wanted to run from this awkward situation.

"What's going on? What are you doing here?", Fred asked, his expression unreadable in the dark.

She continued staring at him, feeling her heart sink. Unable to say anything, she merely pushed past him and lost the book in the attempt. It fell to the ground with a noisy sound whilst Hermione ran down the stairs, feeling terribly ashamed.

* * *

Fred watched her leave, confusion spread across his face. He bent down to pick up the book, staring puzzled at the page that flipped open by falling to the ground. It read "How to fight your own demons". His forehead furrowed and, walking into his bedroom, he wondered why Hermione carried this book with her, visiting him in the middle of the night.

* * *

Hermione felt so stupid. How could she burst into the twin's bedroom, eagerly to tell Fred what she found out – when, on the other hand, she knew how stupid she would look after all the facts would sink in? How could she be that stupid to think that, if she told Fred what she read in that book, anyone would understand? She didn't even understand it herself, but now, knowing more or less the truth about the things that happened to her, she felt as if it would be a grave mistake to tell anyone what she found out. 

When she reached Ginny's bedroom, however, she realized that she did loose the book and now felt even more ashamed. Stupid! How could she have been so stupid… Banging the door shut she merely fell onto the bed and covered her racing head with all pillows she could find – unable to sleep and yet unable to get up again.

* * *

"Nox", Fred muttered, switching off the light spot at the top of his wand and shut the book that was lying on his lap. He threw a look through the room, hearing his twin snore eagerly. Sighing noiselessly, he put the book on his nightstand and leant his head against the wall behind him. 

He felt weird. Not necessarily due to the events that he witnessed the last days, but merely because of what he had read in the book Hermione had left behind. This somehow loosened the knots of confusion inside his head. He reconsidered what he had read and yet he didn't quite understand how it could be possible.

How to fight your own demons. Of course he had heard this phrase before – yet he'd never thought that those demons were actually… well, what were they? In Hermione's case those said demons were creations of very strong emotions. He had read that when a strong emotion, a feeling of utter power, is suppressed, the mind has to find another way of expressing it. That means if there is something inside, it has to find its way outside. And outside means to get out of your body. Fred never thought of this literally. But actually this was possible. He'd seen and felt it.

And he would never forget those red eyes within the shadow that emerged from Hermione's mouth.

He also read that said demons can – in very few cases – go astray and build up their own livings, being more than shadows or expressed feelings, but real demons that can twist the mind and confuse the senses, even controlling the body that they once called their home. So all those incidents that happened before were actually caused by… Hermione's demons.

Fred sat up again, staring at the book.

And now she thought it was all her fault. That it was her after all, her who cut herself, who attacked Angelina, who got into so much trouble.

He quickly got up from bed and grabbed the book, leaving his twin snoring in his bed. Almost running downstairs, he soon after reached Ginny's bedroom, knocking carefully against the door. No sound could be heard from within, so he just opened the door and entered the room – finding nothing but darkness and an open window. Somehow shocked by what he saw, he stormed into the room and headed straight to the window, looking out of it into the dark garden, searching for a sign of Hermione.

When he, however, heard an almost silent cough from his right, he spun around – to see Hermione lying on the bed, her head covered in pillows.

"Hermione", he whispered gently and sat down slowly on the edge of the bed.

She didn't react to his words but seemingly tightened her muscles.

"I read the book", he merely stated, trying to get a reaction out of her.

She slowly moved under the pillows and instants later, Fred could see inches of her face coming into view beneath the pillows.

"And", he continued talking to her left eye and parts of her nose (for those parts where all he could see of her face). "And I think, now that we know why all this is happening, we don't have to worry about it anymore, do we?"

"But", he heard her whisper. "But that doesn't solve it!"

"But now we know what to fight, don't we?"

"How?"

"Well, the how's another thing", he admitted, grinning at her. "Don't worry, alright? No one will be mad at you or something… this is… well, normal is something else, but come on, Hermione, no one blames you for having such… -"

"Beastly habits?"

"Strong emotions", he corrected, reaching out one hand to get one of the pillows out of her face.

She looked up at him, her cheeks turning a deep shade of crimson when he threw her a smile.

"It's alright, okay?", he whispered, tilting his head.

She tried to nod, even though one couldn't tell from the position she was laying on the bed and her head being covered by pillows and bushy brown hair.

"So", Fred said, watching her. "For now we'll try to sleep and tomorrow morning, we'll handle your little…"

"Problem", she finished the sentence, whispering.

He nodded, smiling down at her.

"Try to forget this, okay? Don't worry", he said. "You know, I never expected a Hermione Granger hiding away from something. You are a tough girl, you can handle this. Don't you hide from those demons of yours; that is exactly what they want, mind you? So, go to sleep now and kick their ass tomorrow, shall we?"

A grin came across his face that soon jumped onto her face as well.

"I know I shouldn't be saying that but I really have to th–"

"Don't", he said with a smile and before she could go on thanking him again, he bent down and kissed her on the cheek, making her blush even more."Good night, now", he said after leaning back and getting to his feet again.

"Good night", she whispered and watched him leave the room again.

She didn't know yet that another feeling swept inside her, keen on getting out.

* * *

**A/N: That was chapter 13! I hope you liked it! I also hope to finish this story soon... because (don't get me wrong, I love this ship and would love to write on forever but) there is not much to come from now on. We almost reached the top of the hill xDD I don't know how many chapter there'll be, but not too many... something between two and five or so xDD like I said: I don't know!**

** Anyways, please tell me what you think of this story thus far and I'm also open to any kind of suggestions!**

** And now let me thank all of you guys out there reading this story! I'm so grateful! Almost 6000 hits... amazing... thank you everyone!**

**Keep reading! -waves-**


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